224 White's Selhorne. 



menl and cessation of their song, the site, form and materials of their 

 nests, and a thousand other facts, previously disregarded, were to him 

 matters of the deepest interest, and were recorded with a care and 

 precision which even now are rarely equalled. The * Natural History 

 of Selborne ' is an accumulation of such records, a vocabulary of facts; 

 and might we be allowed its utterance, we should express a wish, al- 

 most a trust, that * The Zoologist," now in the dawn of its existence, 

 and comparatively unknown, may eventually become such a vocabu- 

 lary ; not confined to a parish, or to a county ; — not limited to the 

 writings of an individual, whose sphere of observation must of neces- 

 sity be restricted ; but embracing the entire kingdom, whether for ob- 

 servations or observers. Such a work would become essential alike 

 to the grave historian of nature, who would enrich his pages with its 

 treasures, and to the youthful student, who thirsts for a sufficient 

 knowledge of Natural History to give a zest to his rambles in the fo- 

 rests and the fields. 



Truly it does not fall to the lot of all men to attain such a profici- 

 ency as the historian of Selborne, nor is it desirable that it should ; 

 few indeed possess the opportunity, the patience, the leisure, the zeal, 

 to achieve it. But then. White was but one — we are many; and sure- 

 ly the wider field of observation, surely the increased number of ob- 

 servers, will compensate for the inferiority to our great model and 

 master, which each individually will be ready to admit. There is, 

 moreover, something exactly to our taste in the pleasing way in which 

 the historian of Selborne bespeaks the favorable consideration of the 

 scientific Barrington : — "You are a gentleman of great candour, and 

 one that will make allowances, especially when the writer professes 

 to be an out-door naturalist, one that takes his observations from the 

 subject itself, and not from the writings of others." It is our own case 

 exactly ; we feel that we have to plead for the allowances of the men 

 of books; we are out-door naturalists ; we take our observation s/row 

 the subject itself; taking for granted the view of the scientific, that 

 this is the lowest branch of the tree of knowledge, we content our- 

 selves with gathering the fruit placed so abundantly within our reach. 



We cannot afford space to review at length works that have reached 

 so many editions ; the fact itself is a criterion of excellence. But we 

 may say that the present edition is nicely got up, has iew editorial 

 notes, and is peculiarly free from the technicalities of science : it is, 

 moreover, beautifully illustrated, and is one of the prettiest presents 

 that a juvenile naturalist could receive. K. 



