NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 35 



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 ruminate and solace themselves from about ten in the 

 morning till four in the afternoon, and then return to their feeding. 

 During this great proportion of the day they drop much dung, in 

 which insects nestle ; and so supply food for the fish, which would 

 be -poorly subsisted but from this contingency. Thus Nature, 

 who is a great economist, converts the recreation of one animal to 

 the support of another ! Thomson, who was a nice observer of 

 natural occurrences, did not let this pleasing circumstance escape 

 him. He says, in his " Summer," 



tr 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, containing, in its whole 

 circumference, 2,646 yards, or very near a mile and a half. The 

 length of the north-west and opposite side is about 704 yards, 

 and the breadth of the south-west end about 456 yards. This 

 measurement, which I caused to be made with good exactness, 

 gives an area of about sixty -six acres, exclusive of a large irregular 

 arm at the north-east corner, which we did not take into the 

 reckoning. 



On the face of this expanse of waters, and perfectly secure from 

 fowlers, lie all day long, in the winter season, vast flocks of ducks, 

 teals, and widgeons, of various denominations ; where they preen 

 and solace, and rest themselves, till towards sunset, when they 



