Dear Sir

I am in receipt of yours of the 11^th. Ins^t. but absence from home in Dumfriesshire, & Kirkcudbrightshire prevented me from replying to it until now.—

We all know very well who M^r. Darwin is, although some of us do not think ourselves bound to agree with him in all his theories, if I could assist him however in his researches I would willingly do so; I cannot however give you any more correct statistics regarding the number of males and females among sheep and Cattle than I have done, as I keep no record, and when M^r. Darwin speaks of 104.5 male births to 100 female births in the human species,¹ there may be some slight difference among sheep, but I do not think so, but without closer observation I cannot speak to the exact fact; when in Dumfriesshire I put the question to an extensive farmer, both on lowland and hills, and he said on the average he believed they were equal.—

As regards the point on which M^r. Darwin wishes more information as to whether more male lambs die than females, independently of castration, I have not found more male Lambs die, before weaning, than females excepting from Castration, but I have always found males, when Mogs, that is from the time they are weaned until they are one year old, more liable to die from Braxy and other diseases than females.— Afterwards when females begin to breed they are more liable to casualties than males, that is that more males die before they are one year old or one and a half than females and that independently of castration, and more females than males from one cause and another after they are two year old.—

The number of births of Horses 25,000 tabulated by M^r. Darwin² seems a large number, but it is a small number in comparison to the Lambs I have had through my hands first and last.—

You ask the Breed of the sheep I speak of, my opinion is you have that information in my former Letter;— they are now Blackfaced, Mountain sheep, formerly Leicesters and Cheviot.

I am Dear Sir | Yours truly | Robert Elliot

George Cupples Esq | The Cottage