SEX. 315 



men in England, who have bred lowland sheep, chiefly 

 Leicesters, during the last ten or sixteen years. They 

 amount altogether to 8,965 births, consisting of 4,407 

 males and 4,558 females, that is in the proportion of 

 96.7 males to 100 females. With respect to Cheviot 

 and Black-faced sheep," he "received returns from 

 six breeders, two of them on a large scale, chiefly for 

 the years 1867-'69, but some of the returns extending 

 back to 1862. The total number recorded amounts 

 to 50,685, consisting of 25,071 males and 25,614 

 females, or in the proportion of 97.9 males to 100 

 females. If we take the English and Scotch returns 

 together, the total number amounts to 59,650, consist- 

 ing of 29,478 males and 30,172 females, or as 97.7 to 

 100." 1 



So far as numbers alone' are concerned, the statis- 

 tics of the sexes of sheep are more satiafactory than 

 of any other class of domestic animals ; but there are 

 other facts that will undoubtedly modify the results 

 obtained. 



In the human family, and also in many instances 

 with the lower animals, it has been found that the 

 males, at birth, are considerably in excess of the fe- 

 males. 



The death-rate of males, however, at an early age, 

 is decidedly greater than it is in females, so that the 

 differences at birth are gradually diminished. 



Maitland, in his " History of London," 1739, says : 

 " From the year 1657 to that of 1738, during which time 

 of eighty years there appear to have been christened 

 619,187 males and 585,334 females, and buried 994,- 



1 "Descent of Man," vol. i., p. 295. 



