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PREFACE. 



THE author of the present work, when engaged a 

 few years back in preparing notes for a new edition 

 of White's Natural History of Selborne, soon found 

 a larger stock of matter collected upon his hands 

 than it was thought desirable to use on that occasion. 

 This led to the idea of embodying a considerable 

 proportion of this matter in a separate work, such as 

 is now offered to the public. It further appeared to 

 him that a work of this kind might take the place of 

 the " Naturalist's Calendar " and ' ( Observations in 

 various branches of Natural History," extracted from 

 White's papers after his death, and first given to the 

 world in a separate volume, by Dr. Aikin; both 

 which have generally been incorporated with the later 

 editions of White's work, but were not included in 

 the edition spoken of above. This omission was in 

 consequence of an opinion, that the " Calendar," 

 though useful to a certain extent, wanted that method 

 and exactness which alone can give any permanent 

 value to such Registers ; while the " Observations " 

 contained little of importance beyond what might be 

 found in the Natural History of Selborne itself, or 



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