The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, or just The Natural History of Selborne is a book by pioneering English naturalist and ornithologist Gilbert White first published in 1789. It has been continuously in print since then, with nearly 300 editions up to Thames & Hudson's The Illustrated Natural History of Selborne in 2007.[1]
This book was a compilation of 44 of his letters to Thomas Pennant, the leading British zoologist of the day, and 66 letters to the Hon. Daines Barrington, an English barrister and another Fellow of the Royal Society. In these letters White detailed the natural history of the area around his family home at the vicarage of Selborne in Hampshire.[2]
White was a careful observer relying on his own observations rather than folklore and common knowledge. For example, he realized that there were not one but three British species of "willow-wren" (leaf-warblers) which are now known as the Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Wood Warbler. He also described the Common Noctule, Harvest Mouse and Lesser Whitethroat, and studied the habits of the Stone Curlew, Nightjar, Swallow, House Martin and Common Swift.[2]
One of his few errors paradoxically arises from his meticulous observation. Because Swallows and House Martins were seen so late in the year, often into November, he was convinced that at least some must hibernate through the winter rather than migrate.[2]
White's work means that he is regarded by many as an early ecologist.[3] His book’s attraction derives not only from its scientific value, but from its style and atmosphere; as British ornithologist James Fisher wrote in 1941:[4]
His world is round and simple and complete; the British country; the perfect escape.
Though the work is regarded as an inspired close study of a small landscape as seen through the Enlightenment ideal of the economy of nature, White's work closes with his observations of strange weather following the Laki volcano eruption in 1783. He notes the anomalous events of blood-red sunsets caused by scattering from particulate matter and a particularly cold winter into 1784.