WCP6980

Letter (WCP6980.8089)

[1]

5, Westborne Grove Terrace, W.1

Oct[obe]r. 30th.

My dear Sir

If you are now able to examine the hawks you had last from Stevens’2, will you please to give me your opinion of the female species from Flores,3 without any [1 word illeg.] collar above, and the wing only up to 8 inches, & only 8-9 bands on the tail. If new I propose to call it Accipiter sylvestris.4

Also will you tell me where I can find the description of A. rufitorques Peale.5 which you had said one of mine [2] (from Salwatty,6 Morty,7 Gilolo8 etc) much resembled, but you thought was new.

The large form of hiogaster from Gilolo I have called mulleri.9

Trusting that yourself & family are all quite well

I remain — My dear Sir

Yours very truly

Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

1
The London residence of ARW's sister Frances ("Fanny") Sims (née Wallace, 1812-1893) and her husband Edward Sims (1829-1960). ARW lived here from early April 1862 to March 1865.
2
Stevens, Samuel (1817-1899). British entomologist and dealer in natural history specimens; agent of ARW.
3
One of the Lesser Sunda Islands in Indonesia (the Malay Archipelago).
4
ARW described this species of Accipiter, the Lesser Sundas goshawk (now Accipiter hiogaster sylvestris), native to Indonesia, in: Wallace, A. R. 1868. On the Raptorial Birds of the Malay Archipelago. Ibis. 4: 1-27 (on 10).
5
ARW referred to this species of Accipiter, from the Fiji islands, in: Wallace, A. R. 1865. Descriptions of New Birds From the Malay Archipelago. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 33: 474-481 (on 474).
6
Salawati is an island in the West Papua province of eastern Indonesia.
7
Morotai, or Morty, an island in the Moluccas, or Maluku Islands of Indonesia.
8
Now Halmahera, the largest of the islands in the Moluccas, or Maluku Islands of Indonesia.
9
Accipiter hiogaster is the Variable goshawk native to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands. ARW described ʹAccipiter mulleriʹ (sometimes ʹmuelleriʹ) in Wallace, A. R. 1865. Descriptions of New Birds From the Malay Archipelago. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 33: 474-481 (on 475); and Wallace, A. R. 1868. On the Raptorial Birds of the Malay Archipelago. Ibis. 4: 1-27.

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP6980.8089)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by Sherwood, Danni [2020-05-19] Transcription checked by Barton, Michael [2020-08-27]

Please cite as “WCP6980,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP6980