WCP2267

[1]

The Firs S^o[uth] Norwood

6 Feb[ruar]^y 1871

Dear Wallace

Pray excuse the delay in replying to your note,¹ left for me at the Zoo but, as Sharpe² will tell you, I have been so busy[.] I should like some fuller particulars as to what you want to know before I answer your query, and I daresay I shall meet you at the Zoo [2] tomorrow evening.

I have lived so much in Sweden & Finland that I can tell you off hand the range of most of the birds but don[']t know so much about the other animals[.] As a general rule the range of tree growth forms a good boundary for most of the birds, for instance the common Blue tit (Parus caeruleus) and Coracias garrula rarely if ever pass above the oak growth, and the same may be said of many [3] of the more tender of the warblers and more southern forms found in Scandinavia[.]

On the other hand the high northern birds keep close to the conifer growth or Birch region only venturing further to the South when driven down by stress of weather. Of course the seabirds form an exception to a large extent [.]

I could without much trouble make out a list of Scandinavian birds dividing them into sections according to their range if that would assist you[.] There has been for years a gradual emigration of [4] Eastern species into Scandinavia (Emberiza rustica & [Emberiza] pusilla[,] Carpodacus erythrinus &c)[.]

There will not be much difficulty in procuring you particulars of [one illeg. word struck through] of the distribution of the mammals from some of my correspondents in Sweden.

Always at your service | I remain | Yours truly | H E Dresser [signature]