Introduction xxxv 



able life-work. On the contrary, it is impossible not to attach 

 the highest importance to it. Most of his obsen'ations were con- 

 ducted ivith stich care and accuracy that they are still among the 

 best we possess for the fattna and especially for the birds of Great 

 Britain. Only a few modern observers, such as Mr. Warde 

 Fowler and Mr. Hudson, can be named in the same rank 

 with White as patient and sympathetic first-hand watchers 

 of the wild life of the moors and woodlands. Whoever reads 

 these Letters to-day may learn on every page of them numerous 

 facts which no subsequent observation has either disproved or 

 improved upon. I have lived myself for some years in White's 

 own country, looking out daily upon Selborne and upon Wolmer 

 Forest ; the same ponds have flashed in the sunlight on my 

 eyes ; the same beasts and birds and insects have darted 

 before me. I have constantly read White's accounts of their 

 habits and manners ; and I have been every day more impressed 

 by the depth and width of his knowledge, the accuracy of his 

 observation, the candour of his mind, and the intimate acquaint- 

 ance he possessed with the outer life of natiire in England. 



From this point of view, the value of White's work is universal 

 and permanent. His method is even more important than his 

 results. He teaches one how to observe ; he shows us by an object- 

 lesson of patience and watchfulness how we ought to proceed in 

 the investigation of nature. In his time, all the work was still to 

 do. In ours, for Europe at least, the greater part of it has been 

 already done. To-day, if a boy or a man wants to know about the 

 plants, the birds, the fish, or the insects of the country in which 

 he lives, he usually begins by " buying a book about fhem." He 

 collects specimens, of course, and identifies ihem with his book ; 

 but as soon as he has found out to ivhat particular species each 

 specimen belongs, he generally contents himself ivitli reading up 

 what his book says about it, and then rests satisfied that he has 

 fairly "done" that plant or animal. Thus the very perfection 

 at which our text-books have arrived stands in the way of first- 



