NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 11 



along them ; but delight the naturalist with their various botany, and 

 particularly with their curious filices with which they abound. 



The manor of Selborne, was it strictly looked after, with all its 

 kindly aspects, and all its sloping coverts, would swarm with game ; 

 even now hares, partridges, and pheasants abound ; and in old days 

 woodcocks were as plentiful. There are few quails, because they 

 more affect open fields than enclosures ; after harvest some few land- 

 rails are seen. 



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. Hund. 

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



Jan. 1, 1780, to Jan. 1 

 Jan. 1, 1781, to Jan. 1 

 Jan. 1, 1782, to Jan. 1 

 Jan. 1, 1783, to Jan. 1 

 Jan. 1, 1784, to Jan. 1 

 Jan.], 1785, to Jan. 1 

 Jan. 1, 1786, to Jan. 1 



1781 



1782 

 1783 

 1784 

 1785 



27 32 



30 71 



50 26! 



33 71 



33 80 



1786 . . . . . . 31 55 



1787 . 39 57f 



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 inhabitants. J 



* A very intelligent gentleman 1 assures me (and he speaks from upwards of 

 forty years experience), 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 four first years, from 1740 to 1743, I should have said 

 the mean rain at Lyndon was 16 inches for the year; if from 1740 to 1750, 

 18i inches. The mean rain before 1763 was 20i inches, from 1763 and since 

 *25i inches, from 1770 to 3780, 26 inches. If only 1773, 1774 and 1775, had been 

 measured, Lyndon mean rain would have been called 32 inches. 



t Mr. Bennet has given a continuation of the register of the rain-gauge up to 

 1793. Some of the years show a greater quantity than any of the previous ones, 

 except 1782. Three of them considerably above 40, the last 48 '56. 



J 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; near five inhabitants 

 In the rest of the parish . . . . 363 J to each tenement. 

 In the time of the Rev. Gilbert White, Vicar, who died in 1727-8, the number of 

 inhabitants was computed at about 500. 



1 The intelligent gentleman, referred to in the author's note to this letter, was 

 Thomas Barker, of an ancient and respectable family in the county of Eutland, 

 brother-in-law to Mr. White. 



The vignettes at commencement and conclusion of the letter represent those 

 hollow lanes so quaintly alluded to in its first paragraph. 



