Xll 
PBEFAGE. 
features of Selborne, notwitlistanding a chapter on the 
subject by the author^ we find the same number of pages 
devoted to a note on bats^ and as many more to the subject 
of migration. The author had only to allude to the infra- 
orbital cavities in the heads of deer to suggest to his editor 
a dissertation upon deer and antelopes^ illustrated by an 
engraving of two heads of an Indian species to which^ it is 
needless to say, no reference is made by the historian of 
Selborne. An equally long note, concluding with a de- 
scription and figure (p. 178) of a bird which Gilbert White 
never saw and does not even mention, is quite as irrelevant 
and out of place. 
Bat if four pages of notes be considered an unduly long 
commentary upon a single passage, what is to be thought 
of fifteen pages (pp. 119-213), the majority of them ap- 
pended to only two lines of text, upon the treatment of 
birds in confinement, and suggested, apparently, by a 
casual remark of the author that a blackcap and sedge 
bird " would require more nice and curious management in 
a cage than he should be able to give them " ? These cannot 
but be regarded as errors of judgment. However entertain- 
ing a note may be, it should never be introduced at the 
expense of the author. Long notes, moreover, weary the 
reader, distract his attention, and ofttimes cause him to 
lose sight of his author altogether. While I have retained, 
therefore, in the present edition, many valuable notes by 
Mr. Bennett and his coadjutors, the late Hon. and Rev. 
W. Herbert and Professor Rennie, it has seemed desirable, 
for the reasons stated, to eliminate much that they have 
supplied, and either to refrain altogether from dwelling- on 
passages which in point of fact require no comment, or to 
substitute, where such is needed, a more modern interpre- 
tation than was offered to the reader five and thirty years 
ago. . 
The original foot-notes by Gilbert White have been 
scrupulously reproduced, and are in every case distin- 
guished by the initials, G. W.'' 
As the reader may expect, not unnaturally, to have pre- 
sented to him some brief memoir of the author, it may be 
