DR. AIKIN'S ADVERTISEMENT. 



THE Rev. Mr. White, so agreeably known "to the public 

 by his Natural History of Selborne, left behind him a 

 series of yearly books, containing his diurnal observa- 

 tions on the occurrences in the various walks of rural 

 nature, from the year 1768 to the time of his death in 

 1793. From these annals he had already extracted all 

 the matter comprised in the work abovementioned, down 

 to the middle of 1787 ; but several curious facts in the 

 preceding numbers had not been thus employed; and 

 all the subsequent ones remained untouched. It was 

 thought a mark of respect due to his memory, and to 

 the reputation he had acquired as a faithful and elegant 

 observer, not to consign these relics to neglect. The 

 manuscripts were accordingly put into my hands for 

 the purpose of selecting from them what might seem 

 worthy of laying before the public. The present small 

 publication is the fruit of my research. With no small 

 pains I collected the materials of it, dispersed through 

 the records of so many years, and gave them such an 

 arrangement as I thought would present them in the 

 most agreeable and useful manner to the lovers of natu- 

 ral knowledge. 



J. AIKIN 1 . 



LONDON, Jan. 1, 1795. 



1 How singularly are the Natural History of Selborne and the Natu- 

 ralist's Calendar connected together ! In the last paragraph of the former 

 work, Gilbert White announces that he had proposed to have added a 

 Natural History of the Twelve Months of the Year, and that a main 

 inducement to him to forego his intention had been the publication by 

 Mr. Aikin of somewhat of the same kind: the commencement of the 

 Naturalist's Calendar is a Preface by Mr. Aikin himself, explanatory of 



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