From Robert Swinhoe   14 August 1863

My dear Sir,

Many thanks for the vignette you have sent me. I do not think it quite does you justice.¹

I have been lately spending a few days with an Uncle, a retired Indian officer, who has been a great hunter & sportsman in his day;² and in conversation with him I learnt two facts which I think will interest you. The first is that on one occasion he shot a female Flamingo in India, the legs of which were thickly covered with small barnacles (Balanus).

Now it is a known fact that the Flamingo sits on her nest astraddle, and probably in this instance the birds legs were left during incubation soaking in salt water during which time the barnacles had time to adhere to them.

The other fact is with reference to the Wild Ass (Asinus sp—) of Kutch.³   There is a story prevailing among the natives that the old male bites off the testes of all the young males he can overpower. Sir W. Harris shot many wild asses while in Kutch,⁴ and he several times met with males which had been gelded & with every appearance about the parts of the testes having been roughly torn away, which to his mind confirmed the stories of the natives. This fact my Uncle heard from Sir W. Harris himself, and I think it is trustworthy, though it sounds much like an exaggerated eastern tale—

I remain, | Your’s very sincerely | Robert Swinhoe

Chas Darwin, Esq^re