1720-1920
On July 18, 1720, Gilbert White was born at the Vicarage in Selborne, Before his sixteenth year he had begun the observations of natural history on which is based the book that reveals him to posterity, though he did not' publish it until 1789-only four years before his death.. Gilbert White has had his share in many humanizing and beneficent activities since inspired by his book and his life. Perhaps no mau—not even the "poets—has had so direct an influence on movements for the appreciation of nature and natural history and the preservation of the beautiful in Scenery, of flowers, trees, birds and insects—in some way the most reniarkable movements of the nineteenth century.
White's friend, John Mulso, said of "The Natural History of Selborne," years before it was published, "Your work upon the whole will immortalize your place of abode as well as yourself." The prophecy has come true. Selborne has become in its way as much a place of pilgrimage as Stratford, Ayr, Chalfont, or Abbotsford.
The Selborne Society contemplates an interesting form of memorial. The Brent Valley Bird Sanctuary, in which since 1905 good work has been done in preserving both common and rare birds on the edge of London, as well as in testing the value of nesting-boxes, is liable to be lost in the forthcoming building. development of the estate of which it forms a part. It is desired to purchase 22 acres of the land for the permanent preservation of the sanctuary. £4,500 is asked, of which more> than £300 has been already promised. The sanctuary consists of 19 acres of beautiful woodland, mainly oaks and undergrowth. Under preservation nearly 50 varieties of birds, including the red-backed shrike, lesser spotted woodpecker, wryneck, and nuthatch been observed to breed, while iters have numbered nearly a hundred, these including the gold-"st. yellow wagtail, magpie, three varieties of woodpecker, nightjar, snipe, sandpiper, kingfisher, heron, curlew, golden plover, and wild goose. The preservation of a carefully protected bit of woodland such as this, on the very edge of London" is a memorial strictly on the lines of Gilbert White's ideas,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.