xxviii INTRODUCTION 



that Wolmer Forest may become a sanctuary for many 

 creatures which are destroyed without mercy by people who 

 profess to be fond of natural history. 



From Wiltshire and Dorsetshire the chalk ranges into 

 Hampshire, Berkshire, Hertfordshire, Kent and Sussex, form- 

 ing a great expanse of downs with wide curving valleys 

 between. This rather monotonous country is disturbed by 

 the upheaval of the Weald, which brings up a mass of 

 wealden (lower cretaceous) beds in the heart of Surrey, 

 Kent and Sussex. The wealden beds are encircled on all 

 sides but one, where the sea comes in, by chalk hills, the 

 North Downs of Kent and Surrey, the Hog's Back, the 

 Hampshire Downs and the South Downs of Sussex. Between 

 the outer chalk hills, whose steep sides face inwards, and the 

 wealden beds, come on in their order the intermediate for- 

 mations (upper greensand, gault, lower greensand), all 

 dipping away from the central mass of the Weald. Selbome 

 lies just within the circle of chalk hills. The escarpment of 

 the Hanger, a chalk hill, rises above it, the meadows between 

 the Hanger and the village are underlain by chalk marl; 

 then come the " black malm " or chloritic marl, the ragstones 

 and firestones of the Lythes, Hartley Hanger, Temple Farm, 

 etc., the " white malm " or upper greensand, the gault of Alice 

 Holt, Bin's Wood, Hartley Wood, the Priory Farm, etc., 

 and lastly the lower greensand of Blackmoor and the 

 forest. 



The visitor to Selbome can drive over from Alton, making 

 a short stay at Norton Farm, where the old road to Alton, 

 long disused, can be seen. Selborne itself, the church, the 

 Wakes, the Hanger and the Lythe will first be visited. Then 

 he can drive to Blackmoor and Wolmer Pond, Greatham, Liss, 

 Hawkley (the site of the famous landslip of 1774), Empshott, 

 Newton Valence, Farringdon, and so back to Alton. This 

 round brings in many of White's favourite haunts, and gives 

 a good notion of the whole parish. By staying one night at 

 Selborne many other spots, interesting to readers of the 

 Natural History, can be brought in. The views from Sel- 

 borne Hanger and Hawkley Hanger are remarkable, extend- 

 ing far over Hampshire, Surrey and Sussex. 



