Parkstone, Dorset.
Oct[obe]r. 22nd. 1897
My dear Violet1
In your previous letter you asked me the Conundrum — why does a wagtail wag it’s tail. That’s quite easy, on Darwinian principles. Many birds wag their tails. Some Eastern Fly. catchers — also black & white — wag their long tails up & down when they alighd[sic] on the ground or on a branch. Other birds with long tails jerk it up in the air when they alight on a branch. Now these varied motions, like the motions of many butterflies catterpillars[sic] & of many other animals must have a use to the animal, & the most common, or rather the most probable, use is, either to frighten or to distract an enemy. If a hawk was very hungry and darted down on [2] on a wagtail from up in the air the wagging tail would be seen most distinctly & be aimed at, and thus the bird would be missed or at most a feather taken out of the tail. The bird hunts for food in the open on the edges of ponds or streams & would be especially easy to capture hence the wagging tail has been developed to baffle the enemy. Now for your last letter. I enclose you £.5. for September which I had quite forgotten, which shows the bad effects of advances for bicycles & other superfluities which upset all normal habits of life! Please never do it again! I will pay your dentist’s bill this time, but you must really make a [3] contract next time, or agree to pay him say £ 1 a year to keep you in grinding order. No doubt dentists o[u]ght to be a government institution like every thing else! We have a card from Will2 which I enclose. I suppose he is now somewhere in space between Niagara & Chicago. The Bacon crazes write books. I have two I think, & there are lots more, but I think the "Arena"3 discussion would suit your friend best, but I am too busy to look them up now. You can take them back after ‘Xmas. I bought about 40 orchids at the sale cheap. Dr. Brett bought 50 and General Dunn about 30 or 40 [4] but of the finest sorts so he spent as much as Dr. Brett & myself together. I have now lots to do cleaning, potting, making new stages in Orchid House &c. Gen. Dunn is going to build an orchid house immediately, so now there are three orchid-maniacs — Thus, "the means to do good deeds makes good deeds done" — or words to that effect of the Darice William!
Anti-Vaccination chap[ter]. nearly done, and don’t I give it the Commissioners shot's[?]! It is so long, & so strong, and so excellent, and so completely swashing, that I must get it printed separately somehow. Its title will be —
Vaccination a Delusion and a Crime as proved by the Official Evidence in the Reports of the Royal Commission.
There! I am exhausted, & can no more. (even if I had room!)
Farewell | your affectionate Pa | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]
Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP296.296)]
For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
[1]1 [p. 791]
Parkstone, Dorset, October 22, 1897
My dear Violet, In your previous letter you asked me the conundrum, Why does a wagtail wag its tail? That's quite easy, on Darwinian principles. Many birds wag their tails. Some Eastern flycatchers—also black and white—wag their long tails up and down when they alight on the ground or on a branch. Other birds with long tails jerk them up in the air when they alight on a branch. Now these varied motions, like the motions of many butterflies, caterpillars, and many other animals, must have a use to the animal, and the most common, or rather the most probable, use is, either to frighten or to distract an enemy. If a hawk was very hungry and darted down on a wagtail from up in the air, the wagging tail would be seen most distinctly and be aimed at, and thus the bird would be missed or at most a feather torn out of the tail. The bird hunts for food in the open, on the edges of ponds and streams, and would be especially easy to capture, hence the wagging tail has been developed to baffle the enemy.
Status: Draft transcription [Published letter (WCP296.5468)]
For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
[1] [p. 115]
TO MISS VIOLET WALLACE:
Parkstone, Dorset. October 22, 1897.
My dear Violet,— In your previous letter you asked me the conundrum, Why does a wagtail wag its tail ? That’s quite easy, on Darwinian principles. Many birds wag their
tails. Some Eastern flycatchers — aIso black and white — wag [2] their long tails up and down when they alight on the ground or on a branch. Other birds with long tails jerk them up in the air when they alight on a branch. Now these varied motions, like the motions of many butterflies, caterpillars, and many other animals, must have a use to the animal, and the most common, or rather the most probable, use is, either to frighten or to distract an enemy. If a hawk was very hungry and darted down on a wagtail from up in the air, the wagging tail would he seen most distinctly and be aimed at, and thus the bird would be missed or at most a feather torn out of the tail. The bird hunts for food in the open, on the edges of ponds and streams, and would be especially easy to capture, hence the wagging tail has been developed to baffle the enemy....
Status: Draft transcription [Published letter (WCP296.6478)]
For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
Please cite as “WCP296,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 29 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP296