68 MAN [Chap. VIII 



Letter 435 curious, I think. If any man wants to gain a good opinion 

 of his fellow-men, he ought to do what I am doing, pester 

 them with letters. 



, , To J. Tenner Weir. 



Letter 436 J J 



4, Chester Place, Regent's Park, N.W., March 13th [1868]. 



You make a very great mistake when you speak of " the 

 risk of your notes boring me." They are of the utmost value 

 to me, and I am sure I shall never be tired of receiving them ; 

 but I must not be unreasonable. I shall give almost all the 

 facts which you have mentioned in your two last notes, as 

 well as in the previous ones ; and my only difficulty will be 

 not to give too much and weary my readers. Your last note 

 is especially valuable about birds displaying the beautiful 

 parts of their plumage. Audubon l gives a good many facts 

 about the antics of birds during courtship, but nothing nearly 

 so much to the purpose as yours. I shall never be able to 

 resist giving the whole substance of your last note. It is 

 quite a new light to me, except with the peacock and Bird of 

 Paradise. I must now look to turkey's wings ; but I do not 

 think that their wings are beautiful when opened during 

 courtship. Its tail is finely banded. How about the drake 

 and Gallus bankiva ? I forget how their wings look when 

 expanded. Your facts are all the more valuable as I now 

 clearly see that for butterflies I must trust to analogy 

 altogether in regard to sexual selection. But I think I shall 

 make out a strong case (as far as the rather deceitful guide of 

 analogy will serve) in the sexes of butterflies being alike or 

 differing greatly — in moths which do not display the lower 

 surface of their wings not having them gaudily coloured, 

 etc., etc. — nocturnal moths, etc. — and in some male insects 

 fighting for the females, and attracting them by music. 



My discussion on sexual selection will be a curious one — 

 a mere dovetailing of information derived from you, Bates, 

 Wallace, etc., etc., etc. 



We remain at above address all this month, and then 

 return home. In the summer, could I persuade you to pay 

 us a visit of a day or two, and I would try and get Bates and 

 some others to come down ? But my health is so precarious, 



1 In his Ornithological Biography, 5 vols., Edinburgh, 1831-49. 



