PREFACE. 







MANY years Lave now passed away since 

 we were presented with that very interesting 

 and amusing book, the " Natural History of 

 Selborne : " nor do I recollect any publication 

 at all resembling it having since appeared. It 

 early impressed on my mind an ardent love 

 for all the ways and economy of nature, and 

 I was thereby led to the constant observance 

 of the rural objects around me. Accord- 

 ingly, reflections have arisen, and notes been 

 made, such as the reader will find them. 

 The two works do not, I apprehend, inter- 

 fere with each other. The meditations of 

 separate naturalists in fields, in wilds, in 

 woods, may yield a similarity of ideas ; yet 

 the different aspects under which the same 



