20 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



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 

 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, containing, in its whole circum- 

 ference, 2646 yards, or very nearly a mile and an 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 measure- 

 ment, 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 



Widgeon. 



of ducks, teals, and widgeons, 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 mea- 

 dows, returning again with the dawn of j 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 



