POND. 33 



It is remarkable, that the term purlieu is never once men- 

 tioned in this long roll of parchment. It contains, besides 

 the perambulation, a rough estimate of the value of the 

 timbers, which were considerable, growing at that time in the 

 district of the Holt ; and enumerates the officers, superior 

 and inferior, of those joint forests, for the time being, and 

 their ostensible fees and perquisites. In those days, as at 

 present, there were hardly any trees in Wolmer Forest. 



Within the present limits of the forest are three con- 

 siderable 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 for this contingency.* 

 Thus Nature, who is a great economist, converts the recre- 

 ation 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, 



" 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 



* This passage proves what an accurate observer Mr. White was of appa- 

 rently trifling facts and circumstances in natural history. He might have 

 added to the above that so economical is Nature, that when cattle are standing 

 in the water, they whisk off vast quantities of flies, which are greedily devoured 

 by the fish which assemble about them, and these, more than the dung, supply 

 them with food. ED. 



D 



