344 Habits of the Dovecot Pigeon. 



become entangled in the net. In the mean time, his asso- 

 ciates below tap sufficiently loud at the door of the dovecot 

 to cause the pigeons to start from their roost and try to escape. 

 Thus the hopes of the farmer are utterly destroyed, and a 

 supply of birds is procured for the shooting matches in a 

 manner not over and above creditable to civilised society. It 

 remains with the members of the club to decide, whether it 

 be honourable or just in them to encourage these midnight 

 depredators. They must be aware that all the pigeons which 

 they buy are old ones ; and that old ones are never offered 

 for sale by the owners of dovecots. The dovecots in this 

 neighbourhood have been robbed repeatedly ; and it is well 

 known that the pigeons which have been stolen from them 

 have fallen at shooting matches near forty miles distant. 



No farm-yard can be considered complete without a well- 

 stocked dovecot, the contents of which make the owner a 

 most ample return, and repay him abundantly for the depre- 

 dations which the pigeons are wont to make upon his ripening 

 corn. He commands a supply of delicious young birds for 

 his table ; and he has the tillage from the dovecot, which is 

 of vast advantage to his barley land. Moreover, the pigeons 

 render him an essential service, by consuming millions of 

 seeds which fall in the autumn, and which, if allowed to 

 remain on the ground, would rise up the following year, in 

 all the rank exuberance of weed, and choke the wholesome 

 plant. 



A dovecot ought to be well lighted ; and it should be white- 

 washed once every year. The tillage which it produces may 

 be removed early in November, and again at the end of Fe- 

 bruary. The young of the dovecot pigeon, like all others of 

 the columbine order, are reared in a nest lined by their own 

 dung ; which, if left in the hole after the birds are gone, is 

 apt to harbour vermin. Wherefore, cleanliness dictates its 

 early removal. 



No dovecot can possibly thrive if rats have found an en- 

 trance into it. These cruel and audacious plunderers will 

 destroy every young pigeon within their reach. Oust them 

 you must, and preclude their return, be the cost ever so 

 great ; otherwise, disappointment will most assuredly be your 

 lot. 



The barn-owl and the starling are harmless unoffending 

 visitors to the dovecot t they repair to it merely for shelter, 

 or for a breeding-place ; so that I always like to see them 

 enter mine. It is a lofty and a spacious building; and last 

 season it furnished seventy-three dozens of young pigeons. 

 The walls were made with flues, by the judicious use of which 



