Noël Frédéric, baron de LAFRESNAYE (1783-1861) ornithologist - Lot 376

Noël Frédéric, baron de LAFRESNAYE (1783-1861) ornithologist. 2 L.A.S., Falaise 1853, to Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, professor at the Muséum d'histoire naturelle; 4 pages in-8, addresses (slight wetness to one letter). An autograph bill signed by naturalist Victor Audouin is enclosed. February 10, proposed exchange with the Muséum: "Two years ago I brought back from Holland two young Sandwich geese, a species quite remarkable for its familiarity and its consequent aptitude for domestication. I thought I had both male and female, but the following spring I had the misfortune to see my two geese lay eggs in turn in the same nest, then hatch one next to the other. After incubation, I naturally found that all the eggs were clear. As I believe you do not yet have this charming species at the Jardin, but that for some years now you have been raising Carolina ducks, I have come to propose [...] that you give me a pair of these ducks in exchange for one of my geese" .... On April 12, he points out that his two Sandwich geese are on their second laying: "If I haven't sent you one in exchange for a [male] Carolina duck, it's because I'm afraid that, accustomed as they are to always being together without leaving each other for the 2 years I've had them, the survivor will go into grief, and then I'll lose the result of all my care"... He asks his correspondent to provide him with a male Sandwich goose... Enclosed is an autograph bill signed by naturalist Victor Audouin: "Bon pour voir l'orang-outang, remis à M. Amyot et trois personnes de sa société".