PREFACE. XI 



people of this our favoured land, but also the arrivals and depar- 

 tures of the birds, who, in most cases, travel much further than 

 we human beings either do or can. If this were done, a new 

 world of pleasurable observation would be opened to thousands. 



I trust, moreover, that this book may induce my fellow- 

 countrymen to learn that in this beautiful world there are many 

 other creatures besides themselves, all living and acting with 

 the utmost independence of human aid or advice. They do not 

 consult mankind as to how, when, or where they shall build their 

 nests or make their holes, or how they shall get their daily 

 rations ; they do not ask us leave to come, nor do they ask leave 

 to go. They know their own business, and obey what we, for 

 want of a better word, call " instinct," the mysteries of which 

 remain as yet unsolved by human intelligence. 



I trust that White's observations may have the effect of show- 

 ing country proprietors especially the owners of parks, wood- 

 lands, &c. that they have on their properties a class of tenants 

 to whose existence and good services their attention has possibly 

 never been previously directed. They would do well to stop the 

 destructive hand of the gamekeepers, who are gradually exter- 

 minating all our indigenous fauna, for want of knowledge of the 

 way in which the forces of nature are balanced, and the law of 

 " eat and be eaten " carried out. White's " Selborne " again will 

 show clergymen that they have many parishioners inhabiting the 

 woodlands, hedges, and fields, whose welfare they would do well 

 not to neglect. There is hardly a parish in England or Wales 

 where the clergyman has not opportunities more or less favour- 

 able for writing a local " White's Selborne," taking White's 

 method of observing and recording as a model for his note- 

 book. 



I feel assured that the education of children, both in town and 

 country, might greatly be forwarded if they were taught in the 



