18661872] SEXUAL SELECTION 75 



done us a good turn in exhibiting her jealousy, of which I Letter 441 

 had no idea. 



Thank you for telling me about the wildness of the 

 hybrid canaries : nothing has hardly ever surprised me 

 more than the many cases of reversion from crossing. Do 

 you not think it a very curious subject ? I have not heard 

 from Mr. Bartlett about the Gallinaceae, and I daresay I 

 never shall. He told me about the Tragopan, and he is 

 positive that the blue wattle becomes gorged with blood, 

 and not air. 



Returning to the first of the last three letters. It is 

 most curious the number of persons of the name of Jenner 

 who have had a strong taste for Natural History. It is a 

 pity you cannot trace your connection with the great Jenner, 

 for a duke might be proud of his blood. 



I heard lately from Professor Rolleston of the inherited 

 effects of an injury in the same eye. Is the scar on your 

 son's leg on the same side and on exactly the same spot 

 where you were wounded ? And did the wound suppurate, 

 or heal by the first intention ? I cannot persuade myself of 

 the truth of the common belief of the influence of the 

 mother's imagination on the child. A point just occurs to 

 me (though it does not at present concern me) about birds' 

 nests. Have you read Wallace's 1 recent articles? I always 

 distrust myself when I differ from him ; but I cannot admit 

 that birds learn to make their nests from having seen them 

 whilst young. I must think it as true an instinct as that 

 which leads a caterpillar to suspend its cocoon in a particular 

 manner. Have you had any experience of birds hatched 

 under a foster-mother making their nests in the proper 

 manner? I cannot thank you enough for all your kindness. 



1 A full discussion of Mr. Wallace's views is given in Descent of 

 Man^ Ed. I., Vol. II., Chap. xv. Briefly, Mr. Wallace's point is that 

 the dull colour of the female bird is protective by rendering her 

 inconspicuous during incubation. Thus the relatively bright colour 

 of the male would not simply depend on sexual selection, but also on 

 the hen being " saved, through Natural Selection, from acquiring the 

 conspicuous colours of the male " (Joe. cit., p. 155). 



