INTRODUCTION xxi 



Surely no man, not seeking fame, has had a more 

 endurable monument erected to him in the hearts of 

 English-speaking people than Gilbert White. Many excel- 

 lent editions of his work, the " Natural History of Selborne," 

 have appeared more than eighty in fact since he was laid 

 to rest in the churchyard a hundred and six years ago. Of 

 these editions pre-eminent stand those of Bennett, Jardine, 

 and Harting, written as if under the spell of old Gilbert 

 himself. Mr. Grant Allen's recent edition is also remarkable 

 for the profusion of illustrations. No edition, however, can 

 ever equal that of the late Professor Bell, whose name, 

 celebrated enough for his own achievements in zoological 

 science, gains additional splendour from his connection 

 with Gilbert White's old home, where he lived for so 

 many years. Not only did Bell own "The Wakes" for 

 nearly half a century, but he had access to private family 

 documents belonging to Gilbert White's collateral de- 

 scendants which will never again be gathered under one 

 roof. If Bell had lived in these days of the "Selborne 

 Society," many of the relics which were dispersed after 

 his death might have become national property, and have 

 been available for study by those who love Gilbert White 

 and his memory. Even Bell's edition, though classical and 

 immortal, leaves many blanks in the history of the family, 

 and the inner story of Gilbert White's simple life yet 

 remains to be fully written. As an edition of White's 

 " Selborne " it can hardly be beaten, for Bell lived in White's 

 old house, had the whole of his correspondence before 

 him, was the accepted authority on " British Mammalia," 

 and for ornithological matter received the co-operation of 

 Professor Alfred Newton, who not only possesses a profound 

 knowledge of British ornithology in all its aspects, but is 

 himself one of the pioneers of the " Gilbertian " method of 

 exact record, whence have flowed those practical works of 

 field- observation by which British Naturalists of the pre- 

 sent generation have been distinguished (cf. his "Ootheca 



