The Natural History of Se I borne 37 



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/locks compose j 



on the grassy bank 



Some ruminating lie ; "while others stand 

 Half in the flood, and, of fen bending, sip 

 The circling surface" 



Wolmer Pond, so called, I suppose, for eminence sake, 1 

 is a vast lake for this part of the world, containing, in its 

 whole circumference, 2646 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 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 of cattle, can render this meer so remarkable as the 



1 White is mistaken, I need hardly say, in supposing the pond to be 

 called after the forest ; it is really the forest which is called after the pond. 

 The wild tract between Petersfield, Haslemere, and Selborne contained 

 three meres, Hogmere, Cranmere, and Wolmere, or Hogmer, Cranmer, 

 and Wolmer. From the largest of these three, Wolmer, the forest took its 

 usual name. Wolmer Pond was once much larger than in White's time, 

 and has now been still more extensively drained, till it is quite insigni- 

 ficant. ED. 



