THE 31 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. BY THE LATE REV. GILBERT WHITE, A.M. FELLOW OF ORIEL COLLEGE, OXFORD. WITH ADDITIONS BY SIR WILLIAM JARDINE, BART. F.R.S.E. F.L.S. M.W.S Philadelphia: CAREY AND LEA-CHESNUT STREET. INTRODUCTION. "Observatores pauci, qui, scientiæ mysteriis initiati, rité colligunt, collecta examinant, discrimina quærunt, naturæ arcana rimantur." SCOPOLI. THE attention that of late years has been devoted to the study of Natural History, and its importance to our commerce, manufactures, and domestic economy, must render every attempt to increase or simplify our knowledge of it at once praise-worthy and desirable; and, it is hoped, will be a sufficient apology for the reprint of a work which has already gone through several editions. The Natural History of Selborne, by the Rev. Gilbert White, appears to have been written at the suggestion of Mr. Pennant, the Hon. Daines Barrington, and several distinguished contemporary naturalists, with whom Mr. White was in frequent correspondence; and who soon perceived that his abilities, as a careful observer of nature, might be advantageously employed in researches connected with the productions of his native parish. The |