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Bolam thanks Ewart for his paper 'The Nestling Feathers of the Mallard' and makes some remarks on the applicability of Mendelism to sheep breeding.

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Faulkner asks Ewart for advice on feathers for an experiment being conducted at the University of Chicago, namely the age at which the juvenile plumage on the brown leghorn is repaced by adult plumage.

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Gladstone provides details about the shipment of the white cock pheasant he is sending to Ewart. He writes about his research on to what degree the male bird influences the stock produced by him and an unusual mate, and includes further details on the colours of various bird plumages.

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Ritchie wonders if Ewart's research on plumage could be furthered by examining the succession of plumage in, for instance, a diving duck such as the Eider, as it is near enough to the mallard to promise results but not near enough to suggest identity of development. He then requests a copy of Ewart's portrait to hang in his office at Aberdeen University 'to commemorate your holding of the Aberdeen Chair'.

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Ritchie provides details about a paper he has seen in Nature concerning the moulting of the Hoatzin bird from down into feathers. He wonders whether Ewart should try to obtain a loan of the specimens or a sample of the down for examination.

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Mitchell writes concerning the fact that Gadow's paper concerning feathers has been accepted for publication by the Publication Committee of the Zoological Society of London despite the paper not having a satisfactory conclusion.

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The letter thanks Ewart for the donation to the Royal Scottish Museum of a Mallard duckling wing showing the succession of two down plumages and feather plumage.

Scope and Contents Astbury writes that at the Textile Physics Laboratory at the University of Leeds thay have just begun an X-ray study of the structure of feathers, in the aim of revealing more about the constitutions of the keratins in general. He reports that the quill end of goose or hen feathers produces an X-ray photograph which is quite different from ones he has obtained from wool, hair, fingernails, spines and horn. However, he would like to know more about the structural and biological nature of all...

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Calman writes that Kinnear has handed over the 14 bottles of penguin embryos which Ewart has returned to the Museum. Calman asks Ewart to return the remaining seven bottles still in his possession so that the loan register can be updated, and suggests that, if he wishes, Ewart could remove a few sample feathers from the specimens before returning them to the Museum.

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Recto: three photographs depicting developmental capons.

Verso: One photograph of a 'half sider' chicken.