PROPORTION OP THE SBXJB& 279 



castrated; so that the following returns do not give the proportions 

 at birth. Moreover, I find that several great breeders in Scotland, 

 who annually raise some thousand sheep, are firmly convinced that 

 a larger proportion of males than of females die during the first year 

 or two. Therefore the proportion of males would be somewhat larger 

 at birth than at the age of castration. This is a remarkable coinci- 

 dence with what, as we have seen, occurs with mankind, and both 

 cases probably depend on the same cause. I have received returns 

 from four gentlemen in England who have bred Lowland sheep, 

 chiefly Leicesters, during the last ten to 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 bred in Scotland, I have received 

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

 the years 1867-1869, but some of the returns extend 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, consisting of 29,478 males and 30,172 

 females, or as 97 7 to 100. So that with sheep at the age of castra- 

 tion the females are certainly in excess of the males, but probably 

 this would not hold good at birth.* 



Cattle. I have received returns from nine gentlemen of 982 births, 

 too few to be trusted ; these consisted of 477 bull-calves and 505 

 cow-calves; i. e.,'m tbe proportion of 94.4 males to 100 females. 

 The Rev. W. D. Fox informs me that in 1867 out of 34 calves born 

 on a farm in Derbyshire only one was a bull. Mr. Harrison Weir 

 has inquired from several breeders of pigs, and most of them esti- 

 mate the male to the female births as about 7 to 6. This same 

 gentleman has bred rabbits for many years, and has noticed that a 

 far greater number of bucks are produced than does. But estima- 

 tions are of little value. 



Of mammalia in a state of nature I have been able to learn very 

 little. In regard to the common rat, I have received conflicting 

 statements. Mr. R. Elliot, of laighwood, informs me that a rat- 

 catcher assured him that he had always found the males in great 

 excess, even with the young in the nest. In consequence of this, 

 Mr. Elliot himself subsequently examined some hundred old ones 

 and found the statement true. Mr. F. Buckland has bred a large 

 number of white rats, and he also believes that the males greatly 

 exceed the females. In regard to moles, it is said that " the males 

 are much more numerous than the females ;" f and as the catching 

 of these animals is a special occupation, the statement may perhaps 

 be trusted. Sir A. Smith, in describing an antelope of S. Africa:}: 



* I am much indebted to Mr. Cupples for having procured for me the above 

 returns from Scotland, as well as some of the following: returns on cattle. Mr. 

 R. Elliot, of Laighwood, first called my attention to the premature deaths of 

 the males a statement subsequently confirmed by Mr. Aitchison and others. 

 To this latter gentleman, and to Mr. Payan, I owe my thanks for large jeturnt 

 as to sheep. 



tBell, " History of British Quadrupeds," p. 100. 



t " Illustration of the Zoology of S. Africa," 1849, pL 29. 



