24 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



a rough estimate of the value of the timbers, which were consider- 

 able, growing .at that time in the district of the Holt ; and enumer- 

 ates 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 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, 



"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 circumfer- 

 ence, 2646 yards, or very near 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 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, 



