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<blockquote>Earthworms, though in appearance a small and despicable link in the chain of nature, yet, if lost, would make a lamentable chasm. [...] worms seem to be the great promoters of vegetation, which would proceed but lamely without them...</blockquote>
The later naturalist [[Charles Darwin]], when asked in 1870 about books that had deeply impressed him in his youth, mentioned White's writings.<ref>
Rather than studying dead specimens, White observed live birds and animals in their own habitats over many years; creating a 'new kind of zoology, scientific, precise and based on the steady accumulation of detail'.<ref>{{cite news |last1=McCrum |first1=Robert |title=100 best nonfiction books: No 80 - The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne by Gilbert White (1789) |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/aug/14/100-greatest-non-fiction-books-all-time-natural-history-and-antiquities-of-selborne-gilbert-white |work=The Guardian |date=14 August 2017 }}</ref> ''The Natural History'' represents a shift to holistic, evidence-based engagement warmed by empathy. From nearly 40 years of observations, White recognised that birds and animals have inner lives. He based his work on accurate (if haphazard) recording of events, classifying, measuring, analysing data, making deductions from observations, and experimenting.<ref name=Farrington2019/> He was 'one of the first writers to show that it was possible to write of the natural world with a fresh and intensely personal vision without in any way sacrificing precision'.<ref>Mabey, Richard, ''Gilbert White: A Biography of the Author of The Natural History of Selborne''. Century Hutchinson, 1986 (Profile Books edn, 2006), p.188</ref> Thus, [[Richard Mabey]] quotes White: 'during this lovely weather the congregating flocks of house martins on the Church and tower were very beautiful and very amusing! When they flew off all together from the roof, on any alarm, they quite swarmed in the air. But they soon settled again in heaps on the shingles; where preening their feathers to admit the rays of the sun, they seemed highly to enjoy the warm situation.'<ref>Mabey 2006 edn, p.211, quoting a letter (19 December 1791) from White to Robert Marsham.</ref> White's scientific outlook was coloured by his theology. He did not have grand theories, plan experiments and replicate them as a modern scientist would: he was more freewheeling and, arguably, as a consequence more appealing as a writer.<ref name=Farrington2019/>
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