THE

NATURAL HISTORY

OF

SELBORNE.

BY THE LATE

REV. GILBERT WHITE, A.M.

FELLOW OF ORIEL COLLEGE, OXFORD.

WITH ADDITIONS

BY

SIR WILLIAM JARDINE, BART. F.R.S.E. F.L.S. M.W. S. AUTHOR OF "ILLUSTRATIONS OF ORNITHOLOGY."

NEW EDITION.

PRINTED FOR

WHITTAKER, TREACHER, & CO. LONDON;

& WAUGH & INNES, EDINBURGH.

12

2

INTRODUCTION.

"Observatores pauci, qui, scientiæ mysteriis initiati, rite colligunt, collecta examinant, discrimina quærunt, naturæ arcana rimantur."

SCOPOLI.

THE attention that of late years has been devoted to the study of Natural History, and its importance to our commerce, manufactures, and domestic economy, must render every attempt to increase or simplify our knowledge of it at once praiseworthy and desirable; and, it is hoped, will be a sufficient apology for the reprint of a work which has already gone through several editions.

The Natural History of Selborne, by the Rev. Gilbert White, appears to have been written at the suggestion of Mr. Pennant, the

Hon. Daines Barrington, and several distinguished contemporary naturalists, with whom Mr. White was in frequent correspondence; and who soon perceived that his abilities, as a careful observer of nature, might be advantageously employed in researches connected with the productions of his native parish. The work consists of a series of Letters addressed to these gentlemen, written in a clear and elegant, yet somewhat popular, style; containing very varied information upon most subjects connected with the Natural History of the age, and is rather the description of an extensive district than of a particular spot or village.

The present work was originally printed in 1789, four years previous to the Author's decease, in a quarto volume, containing besides an Account of the Antiquities of Selborne. Copies of the work becoming scarce and expensive, a reprint was thought necessary, and accordingly it again appeared in 1802, in two volumes, octavo, chiefly under the superintendence of Dr. Aikin, and some of Mr. White's friends. It was again reprinted in 1825. In the latter editions it was thought