442 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



contact with him than before, as he guides you from the dismal 

 dark days of midwinter to the hopes of spring even in January, 

 and to the many " sweet days" to follow — his favourite quotation 

 from George Herbert — by far the majority of the days of the year 

 have their appropriate natural history observation. The idea 

 of the diary, and so of the ' Selborne,' came from Hon. Dames 

 Barrington, " The Inventor" (sic) of the diaries or calendars of 

 observation, one of which was annually presented to G. White, 

 from 1768 onwards. Perhaps it was too much flattery to say 

 that the dross of Bishop Pearson was fine gold ; but the residuum 

 of Gilbert White, after the materials utilized in his ' Selborne ' 

 were extracted from the venerable old diaries, is still golden to 

 the bottom of the pot. The volumes,, now six in number, as a 

 piece of biological archseology, ought to be some day printed 

 verbatim. They show how gradually White felt his way to his 

 conclusions, how he repeated his observations (for example, how 

 in his regular harvest excursion in September and October he 

 noted the Ring Ouzels on the Sussex Downs year by year), how 

 he sometimes most patiently corrected mistakes, how he omitted 

 doubtful evidence, and how wide a tract of country fell under his 

 observation. When a man whose head-quarters are East Hants 

 tells you exactly where he was to a day, and even an hour, for 

 twenty-five years, it is likely that, however retired the auto- 

 biographer may be in his habits, he will show that he spent his 

 days in many parts of counties so diversified, and yet so inter- 

 connected, as are those of Hants and Sussex. 



The object of the present sketch is to trace, day by day, 

 Gilbert White's sojourns in the South Downs and other Sussex 

 localities. This has never been done before, and cannot fail to 

 interest the Sussex reader. His 'Selborne' tells us how much 

 he admired the South Downs, "heaving their broad backs into 

 the sky," how " their gentle swellings and smooth fungus-like 

 protuberances, their fluted sides, and regular hollows and slopes, 

 carry at once the air of vegetative dilatation and expansion" 

 (Letter xvii.). The diaries show that he visited Sussex and its 

 downs regularly, save in 1774, every year from 1768 to 1779. 

 One day, Nov. 18th, 1771, he saw no less than sixteen Fork-tailed 

 Kites at once on the downs near Ringmer. He generally visited 

 Chilgrove, both on the way to Ringmer, near Lewes, and again 

 on returning. It will be news to Sussex readers that Gilbert 



