222 
THE BIRDS OF HAMPSHIRE. 
Large flocks may usually be seen in Christchurch Bay, 
resting on, and floating out with, the tide, and flying in 
again in strings when the stream has carried them beyond 
the limits of safety. 
Smaller numbers and single birds occur throughout 
the county and Isle of Wight in winter. 
In describing Wolmer Pond, Gilbert White wrote ^ : — 
" On the face of this expanse of water, and perfectly 
secure from fowlers, lie all day long, in the winter season, 
vast flocks of ducks, teals, and widgeons, of various de- 
nominations ; where they preen and solace and rest them- 
selves, 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." 
They do not now, however, visit the locality in any 
such numbers. 
In his first letter to Barrington, White includes this 
species among the winter birds of passage. 
The gap between White and Hawker is to some extent 
filled by Gilpin's " Forest Scenery," of which the original 
edition was dated 1791. But we fear that we cannot attach 
any weight to his statement that " the wild duck and the 
widgeon find many a delightful cover (in the neighbourhood 
of Leap), amidst which they breed and rear their young in 
great abundance." 
In Hawker's "Diary" the widgeon, as might be expected, 
occupies a large share of attention, for it is certainly the 
most abundant species of duck frequenting our shores in 
winter, and is represented in the Colonel's total bag by the 
handsome figure of two thousand two hundred and eleven. 
* Letter viii. to Pennant. 
