NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 21 



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 circumfereuce, 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. 



TEAL AND WIDGEON. 



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, 



