24 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE, 



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 circumference, 2,646 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 

 great quantity of coins that were found in its bed about 

 forty years ago. But, as such discoveries more properly 

 belong to the antiquities of this place, I shall suppress 



I 



