185&-1859] Pigeon Fanciers 157 



Charles Darwin to his son William at Rugby. 



DOWN, 29tf [1855 or 1856]. 

 MY DEAR OLD GULIELMUS, 



I have been so very sorry for your having been ill 

 this half-year again with the measles: you have been most 

 unlucky. . . . Do not work to tire yourself; you are one of 

 the very few boys to whom I should dare to tell them not 

 to over-exert themselves, for most youngsters are inclined 

 enough to spare themselves, but this has never been your 

 case. Thank goodness it is not now very long to the 

 holidays. 



I am going up to London this evening and I shall start 

 quite late, for I want to attend a meeting of the Columbarian 

 Society, which meets at 7 o'clock near London Bridge. I 

 think I shall belong to this Society, where, I fancy, I shall 

 meet a strange set of odd men. Mr Brent was a very queer 

 little fish; but I suppose Mamma told you about him; after 

 dinner he handed me a clay pipe, saying " Here is your pipe," 

 as if it was a matter of course that I should smoke. Another 

 odd little man (N.B. all pigeon-fanciers are little men I begin 

 to think) showed me a wretched little Polish hen, which he 

 said he would not sell for 50 and hoped to make 200 by 

 her, as she had a black top-knot. I am going to bring a lot 

 more pigeons back with me on Saturday, for it is a noble and 

 majestic pursuit, and beats moths and butterflies, whatever 

 you may say to the contrary. . . . 



It was for the sake of experimenting on the variation of 

 domestic animals that my father about this time began to 

 keep pigeons, and to associate with pigeon fanciers. He de- 

 scribed his experiences in a letter to Mr Huxley (Nov. 27th, 

 1859) : " For instance, I sat one evening in a gin palace in the 

 Borough amongst a set of pigeon fanciers, when it was hinted 

 that Mr Bull had crossed his Pouters with Runts to gain 

 size; and if you had seen the solemn, the mysterious, and 

 awful shakes of the head which all the fanciers gave at this 

 scandalous proceeding you would have recognised how 

 little crossing has had to do with improving breeds." 



