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text; and it should also be observed that Mr. Herbert has kindly communicated some additional sketches illustrative of the characters of the different species of willow-wren, to the distinctions of which he has paid so much attention.

Of the notes contained in the previous editions a few have been omitted as irrelevant or unnecessary. Those of Markwick and others on the "Observations," which had been formerly printed as part of the text, have been reduced to their proper station at the foot of the pages to which they refer. Many others have been added illustrative of the wide range of subjects treated of by the author; in most cases confirming, in some few correcting, the statements of the text, and accommodating it to the constantly progressive state of natural science, of which they occasionally take a more extended view. Of these a large proportion are from the pen of my brother, but not a few have been contributed by the kindness of his friends: to all of them the initials of the writers are attached. The Hon. and Rev. W. Herbert has again drawn largely on his stores of information connected with ornithology and other branches of natural history; and Messrs. Bell, Owen, Yarrell, and G. Daniell, (the friend to whom I have before alluded as accompanying me in my short visit to Selborne,) have by their numerous notes contributed to enhance the zoological interest of this edition. To each and all of these kind and estimable friends I can but offer in my brother's name the now melancholy tribute of his thanks.

Those thanks are also in an especial manner

due to Mrs. White, a niece of our author, and the present representative of the family in Selborne, and to her niece Miss Georgiana; to both of whom my brother was indebted during his residence in the village for much kind assistance. By the latter the remains of the old tortoise, so often mentioned in the succeeding pages, were rescued from obscurity, and an opportunity afforded of paying a well-merited compliment to the memory of her relative, by the dedication of it to his name, which it is hoped will stand the test of future investigation. These remains, and the painting by Elmer of the supposed hybrid pheasant, which has been the subject of so much discussion, are almost the only personal relics of Gilbert White that are now preserved in his former habitation.

From two other members of the family, resident in the immediate neighbourhood, my brother also met with much polite attention: the Rev. Edmund White, Vicar of Newton-Valence, who is referred to by his uncle in the following pages as "Mr. White of Newton," which living he held for some years previous to his uncle's death; and the Rev. Thomas Bissland, Rector of Hartley Maudytt, and author of a Volume of Sermons lately published, who is married to a grand-niece of our author, and takes a great interest in every thing connected with his name.

Among the residents of Selborne to whom my brother was particularly indebted, the Rev. W. R. Cobbold, the present Vicar, is entitled to an especial acknowledgment for his kind and unwearied attentions, as well as for the warm interest which

he took in my brother's views, and the ready zeal with which he assisted in promoting them. From many other inhabitants of the village and its neighbourhood my brother also received numerous testimonies of their good feeling towards himself and the objects which he had in view.

A month has not elapsed since I had fondly anticipated that this Preface would have been written by the hand of him who prepared the volume for the press. To the last his interest in the work continued unabated: the corrections to the earlier printed sheets of the " Antiquities" were made by me at his bed-side and under his directions; and only three or four sheets remained unrevised at the time of his death. His last instructions to me on any subject of worldly interest had reference to the distribution of certain copies of the book. I may therefore perhaps be excused for having dwelt so long on topics of no great interest to the world at large, and for giving way in some degree to feelings which, although I may strive to moderate, I cannot altogether repress. The time may come when I may be able to write more calmly on the subject, and when I may attempt to pay a fitting tribute to the memory of one who from infancy upwards was my best and truest guide, counsellor, and friend.

I. J. B.

BULSTRODE STREET,

Sept. 15, 1836.

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TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQUIRE.

THE parish of SELBORNE lies in the extreme eastern corner of the county of Hampshire, bordering on the county of Sussex, and not far from the county of Surrey; is about fifty miles south-west of London, in latitude 51, and near midway between the towns of

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