204 'The Natural History of Selborne 



concern of much more trouble and difficulty, and is not to be 

 attained but by the active and inquisitive, and by those that 

 reside much in the country. 1 



Foreign systematics 2 are, I observe, much too vague in their 

 specific differences ; which are almost universally constituted 

 by one or two particular marks, the rest of the description 

 running in general terms. But our countryman, the excellent 

 Mr. Ray, is the only describer that conveys some precise idea 

 in every term or word, maintaining his superiority over his 

 followers and imitators in spite of the advantage of fresh dis- 

 coveries and modern information. 



At this distance of years it is not in my power to recollect 

 at what period woodcocks used to be sluggish or alert when I 

 was a sportsman : but, upon my mentioning this circumstance 

 to a friend, he thinks he has observed them to be remarkably 

 listless against snowy foul weather ; if this should be the case, 

 then the inaptitude for flying arises only from an eagerness for 

 food; as sheep are observed to be very intent on grazing 

 against stormy wet evenings. I am, &c. &c. 



1 In this passage White strikes the keynote of the modern school of 

 natural history, the school which culminated in Darwin, and which is in- 

 terested rather in the facts and problems of life than in mere classifica- 

 tion. ED. 2 He means Systematists. En. 



