ABSTRACT
From time to time, White seems to contradict himself in The Natural History of Selborne. Though the first letters to Pennant and Barrington were written in 1767 and 1769 respectively, and though White edited and added to these originals in incorporating them into the eventual Selborne (they became the principal dated letters of the text), he did not altogether rewrite them for publication. What is asserted in one letter or paper may be qualified in another, and varying suggestions may appear in the course of the same letter.
