ADVERTISEMENT. 



[THE advertisement to the octavo Edition of Selborne, pub- 

 lished in 1802, and edited by John White, the brother of the 

 author, will explain the manner in which the following Calendar 

 and Observations first came to be printed. I include them 

 here in accordance with a now time-honoured custom.] 



" The favourable reception with which the works on natural 

 history of my late respected relation, the Rev. Gilbert White 

 of Selborne, have been honoured by the persons best qualified 

 to judge of their merit, has induced me to present them to the 

 public in a collected and commodious form, free from the 

 encumbrance of any extraneous matter. His largest work, 

 entitled ' The Natural History of Selborne,' has probably been 

 supposed by many to be formed upon a more local and con- 

 fined plan than it really is. In fact, the greater part of the 

 observations are applicable to all that portion of the island in 

 which he resided, and were indeed made in various places. 

 Almost the only matter absolutely local is the account of the 

 antiquities of the village of Selborne ; and this seemed to stand 

 so much apart, that, however well calculated to gratify the 

 lovers of topographical studies, it was thought that its entire- 

 omission would be considered no loss to the work, considered 

 as a publication on natural history. Its place is occupied by 

 the ' Naturalists' Calendar, and Miscellaneous Observations,' 

 which appeared in a separate volume since the author's decease, 

 extracted from his papers by Dr. Aitkin. That gentleman has 

 also made some farther selections from the papers, which are 

 now all in my possession; and has undertaken the revision 

 and arrangement of the whole. A very valuable addition to 

 the calendar and observations has been obtained from the 



