OF SELBORNE. 37 
Within the present limits of the forest are three 
considerable lakes, Hogmer, Cranmer, and Wolmer, 
all of which are stocked with carp, tench, eels, and 
perch ; but the fish do not thrive well, because the 
water is hungry, and the bottoms are a naked sand. 
A circumstance respecting these ponds, though 
by no means peculiar to them, I cannot pass over 
in silence; and that is, that instinct by which in 
summer all the kine, whether oxen, cows, calves, 
or heifers, retire constantly to the water during the 
hotter hours ; where, being more exempt from | flies, 
and inhaling the coolness of that element, some 
belly-deep, and some only to mid-leg, they rumi- 
nate and solace themselves from about ten in the 
morning till four in the afternoon, and then return 
io their feeding. During this great proportion of 
the day they drop much dung, in which insects nes- 
tle, and so supply food for the fish, which would be 
poorly subsisted but for this contingency. Thus 
Nature, who is a great economist, converts the rec- 
reation of one animal to the support of another! 
Thomson, who was a nice observer of natural oc- 
currences, did not let this pleasing circumstance 
escape him. He says in his Summer : 
«A various group the herds and flocks compose : 
‘ on the grassy bank 
Some ruminating lie, while others stand, 
Half in the flood, and, often bending, sip 
The circling surface.” 
Wolmer Pond, so called, I suppose, for eminence 
sake, is a vast lake for this part of the world, con- 
taining, in its whole circumference, two thousand 
six hundred and forty-six yards, or very neara mile 
anda half. ‘The length of the northwest and op- 
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