402 ENGLISH BIRD-LIFE 



Birds were abundant at Selborne, as indeed they were 

 everywhere, but the large area and varied topography of 

 public ground near the town, offers to the unintroduced 

 tourist exceptionally favorable and attractive opportunities 

 for observation. 



But it is primarily because Selborne was the scene of Gil- 

 bert White's labors, that the nature lover should go there. 

 The experience, too, will go far toward explaining the mar- 

 velous vitality of that little volume which has made its au- 

 thor and his home forever famous. He will find it no anti- 

 quated eighteenth century dissertation of purely biblio- 

 graphic value, but a useful work of reference containing in- 

 formation for which he will search through other English 

 nature books in vain. In short, Gilbert White wrote not 

 only the first but the best book of its class. Need one seek 

 better reasons for its longevity and perennial interest I 



From Selborne, I went to Winchester for a glimpse of 

 Isaac Walton 's haunts in the valley of the Itchen. There is a 

 delightful walk south of the city along a branch stream 

 which will lead one to the Itchen itself, flowing peacefully 

 through broad meadows with hedge-bordered downs aris- 

 ing in the distance. Disciples of the good Isaac were dili- 

 gently casting the fly in waters which evidently still repay 

 the fisherman's wooing; there was always one or more Sky- 

 larks overhead and below, Lapwings, Stone-chats, Wagtails, 

 Meadow Pipits and Reed Buntings. Doubtless also there 

 were Sedge and Eeed Warblers, but I did not see them. 



Winchester brings one within easy reach of the New For- 

 est, one of the places which no naturalist visiting England 

 should fail to see. From the time of William the Conqueror, 

 the New Forest has been a royal preserve and it is to-day 

 one of the few places in England where the tourist may find 

 comparatively primaeval conditions. Birds which have be- 

 come rare or have been extirpated in other parts of south- 

 ern England, may still be found in favorable places in this 

 Government reservation. 



