WOLMER POND. Zt 



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 for 

 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, con- 

 taining, 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 ; return- 

 ing 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. 



