308 WITHIN AN HOUR OF LONDON TOWN. 



sea running inland than what it really is pure and 

 fresh water. Fish of good size and quality live in 

 it pike, perch, carp, tench, and roach. I have seen 

 a pike from the big pond that weighed fresh from 

 the water 28 Ib. No wonder the osprey, or fish- 

 hawk, visited it. I have also seen a cormorant, a 

 merganser, and one of the finest golden-eye drakes, 

 pure in adult plumage, got from that pond. Gulls 

 and terns also visit it ; the common tern, the black 

 tern, and the roseate or rosy tern, I have known 

 all shot there, and seen the wild ducks and widgeon 

 come in considerable numbers. From fifty to a 

 hundred are seen on the water at one time, besides 

 other fowl. But the rarest specimens, I think, go 

 and come unseen. Although no cover for fowl is 

 round the pond, the heather runs down to the edge 

 of the water, in fact, in many places the water touches 

 the roots. There is a thick grey dry moss mixed 

 with the heather. The moss and heather appear 

 about equally divided ; rare cover it is for any wader 

 to hide in. Any of the wild geese would be sure 

 to take advantage of this sub-alpine cover, if they 

 left the water voluntarily, which they frequently do, 



