10 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



The parish of Selborne, by taking in so much of the forest, is 

 a vast district. Those who tread the bounds are employed part 

 of three days in the business, and are of opinion that the outline, 

 in all its curves and indentings, does not comprise less than 

 thirty miles. 



The village stands in a sheltered spot, secured by the Hanger 

 from the strong westerly winds. The air is soft, but rather moist 

 from the effluvia of so many trees ; yet perfectly healthy and 

 free from agues. 



The quantity of rain that falls on it is very considerable, as may 

 be supposed in so woody and mountainous a district. As my 

 experience in measuring the water is but of short date, I am not 

 qualified to give the mean quantity.* I only know that 



Inch. Huiid. 



From May 1, 1779, to the end of the year there fell 28 37 ! 



From Jan. 1, 1780, to Jan. 

 From Jan. 1, 1781, to Jan. 

 From Jan. 1, 1782, to Jan. 

 From Jan. 1, 1783, to Jan. 

 From Jan. 1, 1784, to Jan. 

 From Jan. 1, 1785, to Jan. 



1781 - - - 27 32 



1782 - - - 30 71 



1783 - - - 50 26! 



1784 - - - 33 71 



1785 - - - 33 80 



1786 - - - .31 55 



From Jan. 1, 1786, to Jan. 1, 1787 - - - 39 57 



The village of Selborne, and large hamlet of Oakhanger, with 

 the single farms, and many scattered houses along the verge of 

 the forest, contain upwards of six hundred and seventy inhabit- 

 ants.f We abound with poor j many of whom are sober and 



south-eastern counties. I have known one to have been shot in Surrey, in January, and also an 

 allied species, the speckled water-crake (crex-zapornia porzana), in the following month. A few 

 quails (coturnix vulgaris) , also, remain throughout the winter in this country, although by far 

 the greater number migrate. This last-mentioned species is by no means uncommon in summer 

 upon the Surrey hills. ED. 



* A very intelligent gentleman assures me (and he speaks from upwards of forty years' experi- 

 ence) that the mean rain of any place cannot be ascertained till a person has measured it for a 

 very long period. "If I had only measured the rain," says he, "for the first four years, from 

 1740 to 1743, I should have said the mean rain at Lyndon was sixteen inches and a half for the 

 year; if from 1740 to 1750, eighteen inches and a half. The mean rain before 1763 was twenty 

 inches and a quarter, from 1763 and since twenty-five inches and a half, from 1770 to 1780 

 twenty-six inches. If only 1773, 1774, and 1775, had been measured, Lyndon mean rain would 

 have been called thirty-two inches." 



f A STATE OF THE PARISH OF SELBORNE, TAKEN OCTOBER 4, 1783. 



The number of tenements or families 136. 



The number of inhabitants in the street is 313 | Total 676 ; nearly five inhabitants to each 

 In the rest of the parish ... 353 | tenement. 



In the time of the Rev. Gilbert White, vicar, who died in 1727-S, the number of inhabitants wa* 

 computed at about 500. 



