.fnne 34, 1869. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTIOULTURE AND COTTAGE OARDKNER, 



43!S 



against and to evade them. 



and obt.aiued tlio issuing, 



freeman exeroieo 



the trade of [loiilt- 



ing within tlie city 



" until he shall 



first alter his cojjie 



into the Society 



of mere Ponlterp." 



And a list of poal- 



terers licensed by 



the Lord Mayor to 



sell poultry, was 



issued the same 



year. 



We have noted 

 how dependant for 

 provisions, in the 

 middle ages, our 

 forefathers were 

 on their poultry 

 and Pigeons. One 

 evidence of this is 

 the following : — 

 About seven miles 

 north-west of 

 Monmouth, in the 

 county of Here- 

 ford, lies the parish 

 of Garway, where- 

 in the Knights 

 Templars bad a 

 small preceptory. 

 The rules of their 

 order forbade to 

 hunt, shoot, or 

 otherwise parsue 

 game. The Tem- 

 plars, therefore, 

 more even than 

 others when resi- 

 dent at a preceptory were 



The Poulterers' Coropany felt this, I duoe. They, and the mftnlta, were aooustomed, oonsequently, 

 in 1607, of an ordinance, that nu | when loUiug their lands to reserve to themsulves " the Dove- 



buuse with the 

 Doves or colvers 

 therein, and the 

 aooustomed way to 

 the same." Such 

 n " DovehoBse," 

 bnilt of sandstone, 

 on the Templars' 

 lands at Garway 

 was, and, we be- 

 lieve, still remains 

 in excellent pre- 

 servation. Over 

 its doorway was a 

 Latin inscription 

 recording — " In 

 the year 132fi, this 

 Dovecote was bnilt 

 by brother Rich- 

 ard." The size, 

 17 feet 3 inches in 

 diameter in the 

 clear, and the wall 

 16 feet to the 

 springing of the 

 arched roof. In 

 the wall were 066 

 holes, about 7 ins. 

 square, being the 

 entrances to the 

 nt^nriiif^ places, 

 which were 17 ina. 

 deep, and counter- 

 sank in the wall, 

 one course of holes 

 inclining to the 

 Huht hand, and 

 the other course 

 to the kit hand 







'» * i.fl" *-l 



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iji'/a a'a S'S s.a as a a a.s'a ais:. 



■■■'■BSKBBI 



* a. « '«_■.■ :, 'S. s a .« 





jL_a__g__a^.aJg...a!. j. a_.j!._aiirii^ia';.fflj jaij:.ttl». 

 B.'B n .B '» a. a.ii,a;.iMi!iiii„ i 



iaii:a<;'a i''B" S":si'J 



\ 



I* 



dependant upon their home pro- | alternately. 



THE RABBIT'S NEST. 



A DOE of mine has lately made a very strange nest. About 

 two or three days before she kindled, I cleaned out the hutch, 

 covering the floor with ashes and sawdust, mixed (as recom- 

 mended by your correspcndent Mr. Rayson), over which I 

 put some clean oat straw, and a quantity of sweet hay in the 

 sleeping place. She began vigorously to prepare for her com- 

 ing family, and to all appearance had made a good neat. Two 

 days after the birth I took her out of the nest to look over the 

 young ones. I found the nest nothing more nor less than a 

 fermenting mass of filth. 1 took out each Rabbit separately 

 and examined it. Tbey were all steaming like a vapour bath, 

 and each had the appearance of being severely pot-bellied. As 

 there were some very nicely-marked specimens, I thought it 

 worth while to try and save them, so I put them in some clean 



cotton wool, cleaned out the hutch, and dried it ; I then made 

 a fresh nest of hay, and lined it with cotton wool, and placed 

 them in it. The mother, instead of resenting this inroad on 

 her domestic arrangements, seemed on the contrary rejoiced at 

 the change. The swelling I mentioned has completely sub- 

 sided, and the young Rabbits are getting on as well as I could 

 wish. They are now nearly a week old. The mother has ac- 

 quired a bad habit of pushiug auvthing she can lay hold of into 

 her nest, and five or six days' ordure would easily form such a 

 mass as I have described. The greater part of the straw and 

 hay, I suppose she had eaten. I was only just in time 

 to save them, for had I left them till the next day, I feel 

 sure every young Rabbit would have been dead. — Alfred 



LoOCTEK. 



MALE AND FEMALE PARROTS. 



Is there any truth in the following, which I have extracted j 

 from "Notes and Queries "? — 



"I have heard it affirmed that the male Parrot always holds 

 anything to eat in his right foot, and that the female as regu- 

 larly uses the left. And it has been supposed that by this 

 token, or rather habit, the sex of a Parrot may be known, 

 which is otherwise so difficult to determine. Eut this theory 

 is to me by no means satisfactory. Having been long in the 

 habit of keeping as well as observing Parrots, I am somewhat 

 in a position to oppose this theory. I have never yet seen a 

 Parrot who did not hold his food in his left foot, though I must 

 own that I have heard of some who used the right. One of 

 my own Parrots will sometimes, but very rarely, shift what he 

 is eating to his rii,ht foot ; but in that he holds it very awk- 

 wardly, and apparently uncomfortably, for he invariahly takes 

 it back into the left after a minute or two. Of two Parrots 

 which I kept fiir eomn years together, but in separate caRes, 

 one was of slecder make, with a sweet and soft voice, and of 

 80 affectionate a disposition, that his death was a painful loss 

 to his master. The other, who survive':, is a large powerful 



bird, with the most formidable beak I ever beheld, and a loud 

 talker, singer, and whi-ftler, and of a bold and rather treacher- 

 ous temper. It seems to me moiit improbable that these two 

 birds, every way so different, should have been of the same 

 sex. The first I always took for a female, the second has every 

 characteristic of a male. Yet both these birds held anything 

 to eat in the left foot." — P. R. 



[V»'e happened to have the opportunity of consulting two 

 authorities, and these are their replies. 



" It is impossible that the sex of the Parrot can be deter- 

 mined from the taking of the food in either the lelt or the 

 right foot; it is simply fancy. The Parrots in the Zooogical 

 Gardens, male and female, use their fuet alike, and anyone 

 who would take the trouble of going there, and watching them 

 for a short time, would soon find what I say is correct. — G." 



," The theory that it is only the female Parrot who takes her 

 food in her left foot, is, 1 believe, about as correct as the old 

 idea that the wedding rin? is put on the woman's left hand be- 

 oaufe there proceeds fro.oj the heart a partjuular vein to the 

 fourth finger of that hand. Very pretty' theories both, but 



