VIII.] OF SELBORNE. 23 



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 feed- 

 ing. 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 cir- 

 cumstance escape him. He says, in his " Summer," 



" A various group the herds and flocks compose : 



on the grassy bank 



Some ruminating lay ; 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 cir- 

 cumference, 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 wigeons, of various denominations; where 

 they preen and solace and rest themselves, till towards sun- 

 set, when they issue forth in little parties (for in their natural 

 state they are all birds of the night) to feed in the brooks and 

 meadows; returning again with the dawn of the morning. 

 Had this lake an arm or two more, and were it planted round 

 with thick covert (for now it is perfectly naked), it might make 

 a valuable decoy. 



Yet neither its extent, nor the clearness of its water, nor the 

 resort of various and curious fowls, nor its picturesque groups 



