Ɛpsilon

From W. S. C.1 to George Busk   5 April 1873

The passage in ⁠⟨⁠Da⁠⟩⁠rwin to which I referred yesterday Descent of Man vol i p. 270.2

Any thing like it has never been observed by Mr. Broderick3 during 30 years that he has bred London Fancy Canaries. Also the statement Animals & Plants under domestication vol ii p 21 “In a few rare — — or is even brown” p 22 is not the case with his blood. Jonquils & Mealies being quite accidental.4 A prize Jonquil & Mealy often being out of the same hatching.

W. S. C.

I have written to Mr B to ask for a pair of canaries but there is no chance of his having any to spare till the Autumn.

April 5th 1873—

ApcS

Postmark: AP 5 73

CD annotations

1.1 The passage … Canaries. 2.2] crossed ink
2.1 like it] before interl added ink ‘About male canaries feeding ♀ | will do so to any Brood’
1
W. S. C. has not been identified.
2
CD had observed that canaries were monogamous in the wild and that even domesticated males who had been mated to several females treated only the first female as ‘the wife’ (Descent 1: 270).
3
William Brodrick was a well-known breeder of London fancy canaries (R. L. Wallace [1889], p. 250).
4
In Variation 2: 21–2, CD reported that canary breeders he had consulted would not pair two jonquil birds as the progeny would be too dark, even brown. ‘Jonquil’ and ‘mealy’ are colour varieties of domestic canaries.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-8842,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-8842