408 GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION [CHAP. VI 



Letter 316 grand argument in favour of the actuality of migration ; but 

 not finding them will not, in my eyes, much diminish the 

 probability of their having thus migrated. My pen always 

 runs away, in writing to you ; and a most unsteady, vilely 

 bad pace it goes. What would I not give to write simple 

 English, without having to rewrite and rewrite every sentence. 



Letter 317 To J. D. Hooker. 



Friday [June 29th, 1845]. 



I have been an ungrateful dog for not having answered 

 your letter sooner, but I have been so hard at work correct- 

 ing proofs, 1 together with some unwellness, that I have not 

 had one quarter of an hour to spare. I finally corrected 

 the first third of the old volume, which will appear on 

 July ist. I hope and think I have somewhat improved 

 it. Very many thanks for your remarks ; some of them 

 came too late to make me put some of my remarks more 

 cautiously. I feel, however, still inclined to abide by my 

 evaporation notion to account for the clouds of steam, which 

 rise from the wooded valleys after rain. Again, I am so 

 obstinate that I should require very good evidence to make 

 me believe that there are two species of Polyborus** 1 in the 

 Falkland Islands. Do the Gauchos there admit it ? Much 

 as I talked to them, they never alluded to such a fact. In 

 the Zoology I have discussed the sexual and immature 

 plumage, which differ much. 



I return the enclosed agreeable letter with many thanks. 

 I am extremely glad of the plants collected at St. Paul's, 

 and shall be particularly curious whenever they arrive to hear 

 what they are. I dined the other day at Sir J. Lubbock's, 

 and met R. Brown, and we had much laudatory talk about 

 you. He spoke very nicely about your motives in now 

 going to Edinburgh. He did not seem to know, and was 

 much surprised at what I stated (I believe correctly) on 

 the close relation between the Kerguelen and T. del Fuego 

 floras. Forbes is doing apparently very good work about 

 the introduction and distribution of plants. He has fore- 



1 The second edition of the Journal. 



2 Polyborus NOVCE Zelajidia, a carrion hawk mentioned as very 

 common in the Falklands. 



