63 2 
Gilbert White Reconsidered . 
[October, 
IV. GILBERT WHITE RECONSIDERED. 
S HE “ Natural History of Selborne ” is a quite excep- 
tional phenomenon in English literature. We know 
no second instance of a scientific treatise which has 
become so general a favourite with the reading public, and 
of which new editions are still welcomed nearly a century 
after its first appearance. This lasting popularity is the 
more to be noted since the work is singularly free from all 
extraneous allurements. It is not seasoned with any of 
those sectarian and political condiments so dear to the 
British mental palate, and often obtruded upon us where 
utterly out of place. It is not garnished with tales of travel 
and adventure. It ministers little to the national love for 
sport, — i.e., killing for the sake of killing. It is simply 
made up of careful observations of animal and vegetable 
life, told in the quietest and plainest language, and without 
any obtrusion of the author’s personality. He is evidently 
anxious merely that faCts should be ascertained and re- 
corded, not that any kudos should accrue to him as their 
discoverer. 
Herein lies his merit : he is a careful, patient, thorough- 
going observer. He seeks to know what birds are to be 
met with in the sphere of his observations, the parish of 
Selborne. He aims at identifying each species, at ascer- 
taining its food, its song, its manner of flight, its breeding 
season, and mode of nesting. If not to be met with all the 
year round, he notes the times of its coming and departure, 
and asks whither it goes during the winter. Indeed, though 
not without doubts and misgivings whether our martins and 
swallows do not remain during the cold season in a state of 
torpidity, concealed in hollow trees, caves, and such like 
shelters, he throws a most important light on the migrations 
of the small birds. By the co-operation of his brother John, 
who resided for some time at Gibraltar, and who left at his 
death a MS. Natural History of that district, still unpub- 
lished, he ascertained that not merely the swallow tribe, but 
bee-birds, hoopoes, orioles, and many of the soft-billed 
* The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, in the County of South- 
ampton. By the Rev. Gilbert White, M.A. The Standard Edition, by E. 
T. Bennett. Thoroughly revised, with additional notes by J. E. Harting, 
F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c. London : Bickers and Son. 
