30 THE NATURAL HISTORY 



It is remarkable that the term purlieu is never once 

 mentioned in this long roll of parchment. It contains, 

 besides the perambulation, a rough estimate of the value 

 of the timbers, which were considerable, growing at that 

 time in the district of the Holt ; and enumerates the 

 officers, superior and inferior, of those joint forests, for 

 the time being, and their ostensible fees and perquisites. 

 In those days, as at present, there were hardly any trees 

 in Wolmer-forest. 



Within the present limits of the forest are three con- 

 siderable lakes, Hogmer, Cranmer, and Wolmer ; all of 

 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 con- 

 stantly to the water during the hotter hours ; where, bejng 

 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 afternooij, 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 1 Thomson, who was a nice observer 

 of natural occurrences, did not let this pleasing circum- 

 stance escape him. He says, in his Summer, 



" A various group the herds and flocks compose : 

 . . . . on the grassy bank 

 Some ruminating he ; while others stand 

 Half in the flood, and, often bending, sip 

 The circling surface." 



