What is Gilbert White?
[[File:Gilbert White.jpg|thumb|right|Gilbert White]] [[File:Selbournefrontcover.jpg|right|thumb|Front cover of 1879 edition]]{{No sources|date=May 2020}} '''Gilbert White''' (18 July 1720 – 26 June 1793) was a [[pioneer]]ing [[English people|English]] [[naturalist]] and [[ornithologist]]. == Early life and education == White was born in his grandfather's vicarage at [[Selborne]] in [[Hampshire]]. He was educated by a private [[tutor]] in [[Basingstoke]] before going to Oriel College, [[Oxford University]]. He obtained his [[deacon]]'s orders in 1746, being fully [[Ordination|ordained]] in 1749. Then he held several [[Curate|curacies]] in [[Hampshire]] and [[Wiltshire]], including Selbourne. White also held the office of Junior Proctor at Oxford and was Dean of [[Oriel College]]. In 1784 he became curate of Selborne for the last time, remaining so until his death. == Publications == White is best known for ''[[The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne]]'' (1789). This was a collection of his letters to Thomas Pennant, the leading British [[zoologist]] of the day, and the Hon. Daines Barrington, an English [[barrister]] and Fellow of the [[Royal Society]]. These letters contained White's discoveries on local birds, animals and plants. White believed in observing birds rather than collecting specimens. He was one of the first people to separate the similar-looking [[Chiffchaff]], [[Willow Warbler]] and [[Wood Warbler]] by means of their song. White is regarded by many as England's first [[ecology|ecologist]] and one of the founders of modern respect for nature. *White, Gilbert 1789. ''The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, in the County of Southampton: with engravings and an appendix''. London: Printed by T. Bensley; for B. White and Son. *White, Gilbert 1795. ''A Naturalist's Calendar, with observations in various branches of [[natural history]], extracted from the papers of the late Rev. Gilbert White of Selborne, Hampshire, Senior Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. Never before published''.