VIII Gilbert White of Selborne 215 



for a prey that afforded ttem such plentiful and succulent 

 nourishment." 



This passage may aptly remind us that White 

 was by no means only an ornithologist. It is true 

 that many of the most exact and enduring of his 

 observations were made on birds, for birds were 

 always about him, and it is clear that he loved them 

 best. There is not a writer on birds but has drawn 

 on him, — with or without acknowledgment, — for the 

 history of the Stone -curlew, the Eing- ousel, the 

 House-martin, the Sand-martin, the Goat-sucker, and 

 many more ; and where he did not get far himself he 

 threw out hints " in order to set the inquisitive and 

 discerning to work." But to him not only a bird, but 

 every living and growing thing, was a delight and a 

 mystery. The words I have just quoted occur in a 

 very brief letter to Barrington on earthworms, which 

 is an excellent example of the true nature and value 

 of his work as a whole. "A good monography of 

 worms," he says, " would afford much entertainment 

 and information at the same time, and would open a 

 new and large field in natural history." This letter 

 was written in 1777 ; just sixty years later Darwin 

 read his first paper on this subject to the Linna^an 

 Society; and we had to wait nearly another half- 

 century before the monograph at last appeared. I 

 do not know whether Darwin's long series of observa- 

 tions was originally suggested by this remark of 



