INTRODUCTION. 
XXIH 
Tour round Lymington, by the Rev. Richard Warner. 
1789. 
Victoria History of Hants, Vol. I. 1900. (List of 
Birds, by E. G. B. Meade-Waldo.) 
W'ild England of To-day, by C. J. Cornish. 1895. 
Wild Life in Hampshire Highlands, by G. A. B. 
Dewar. 1 899. 
Gilbert White's Natural History of Selborne forms 
the backbone of our work. Though the book has appeared 
in many forms, it has never before been set out as a history 
of the birds of Selborne, arranged in scientific order. 
And though it dates from a time (1788) when most 
naturalists were content to copy the fairy-tales of their 
predecessors, its observations may be proved correct by 
any Hampshire observer who has the patience to watch 
and study as Gilbert White did. 
There are two other points also in which he might 
well be followed by his modern imitators — namely, the 
modesty with which he admits a doubt in facts not proven, 
and the simple and correct language in which he records 
his observations. 
We have usually quoted from Mr. Harting's admirable 
edition, published in 1875. 
White was born at Selborne on July i8th, 1720, and 
died there on June 26th, 1793. 
His Garden Calendar is published in Dr. Bowdler 
Sharpe's edition. His Journal of Observations has never 
been published, but we have made several extracts from 
the MS. in the British Museum. 
Jane Austen was born at Steventon Parsonage, near 
Micheldever, in 1775, and died in Winchester in 1817. 
She has a few references to birds. 
The Hon. Grantley F. Berkeley lived for many years 
