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THE SELBORNE SOCIETY. 



BY GKORGK A. MUSGRAVR, F.R.G.S., F.Z.S. 



It is rather a bitter satire on our civilisation that a society for 

 the protection of the harmless objects of wild nature from un- 

 necessar}^ destruction should be "a want of the day." Yet 

 such is the fact. With the facilities now afforded for locomo- 

 tion, thousands of excursionists, in the place of half a do/.en 

 quiet visitors, are hurled periodically upon a limited tract of 

 country remarkable for its beauty or associations, and instead 

 of doing their utmost, as intelligent beings, to preserve the 

 objects, such as trees, flowers, ferns, birds, or architectural 

 remains, enhancing the beaut}^ or giving additional interest 

 to the spot, they destroy them. 



The evil thus wrought, in great measure thoughtlessly, is a 

 novel one, hence the necessity for seeking to overcome it by a 

 novel method. Those who founded and built up the Selborne 

 Society felt that individual protests made against the evil were 

 a mere w^aste of strength, w^hich could only be obtained in ful- 

 ness by the united action of representatives of all classes, and 

 by the free use of the local knowledge and tact possessed by 

 members of branches. The adherence of sjmipathetic members 

 w^as not difficult to obtain, because the objects of the associa- 

 tion are such as interest the naturalist, the artist, the poet, the 

 wise lover of nature, and the archaeologist ; whilst the co-opera- 

 tion of owners and occupiers of land, gamekeepers, w^oodreeves, 

 and others engaged in rural occupations, was not wanting. 



Such, in brief, is the history of a union for the protection of 

 harmless birds and other creatures, a society for the preserva- 

 tion of trees and plants, a coadjutor in the good w^ork of the 

 Kyrle, Footpath, Ancient Buildings, and other kindred Associa- 

 tions. One fact concerning the society is peculiarly interesting, 

 and that is, that several of the collateral descendants of Gilbert 

 White, the author of "The Natural History of Selborne," in 

 whose honour the society is named, take an active part in 

 promoting its objects. 



Primarily its energies were chiefly devoted to the collection 

 and circulation of reliable information respecting the excessive 

 destruction of birds for ornamental purposes, with the result, 

 that the Audubon Society was founded in the United States, 



