Gilbert White

“The language of birds is very ancient, and, like other ancient modes of speech, very elliptical; little is said, but much is meant and understood.”

“A good ornithologist should be able to distinguish birds by their air as well as by their colours and shape; on the ground as well as on the wing, and in the bush as well as in the hand.”

“Earth-worms, though in appearance a small and despicable link in the chain of nature, yet, if lost, would make a lamentable chasm.”

“When I see the new moon, I am apt to consider it as a slender thread of a silver bow, on which I could hang my hat.”

“History-writers are not to be trusted, unless they have some talent for lying.”

“It is the hardest thing in the world to shake off superstitious prejudices.”

“All nature is so full, that that district produces the greatest variety which is the most examined.”

“No single bird is so destructive to our gardens.”

“The house-sparrow is of all birds the most social.”

“Faunists, as you observe, are too apt to acquiesce in bare descriptions, and a few synonyms.”