28 



NATURAL HISTORY 



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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 

 ^ ^ ne 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 con- 

 tingency. 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 

 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 denomi- 

 nations ; where they preen and solace and rest themselves, 

 till towards sunset, when they issue forth in little parties 







