BOOK OF DOVECOTES 



Inside, about one thousand nests are ar- 

 ranged in twenty-two tiers, the lowest row 

 being four feet six inches from the floor. From 

 a pillar three feet high, placed in the centre, 

 rises the beam of the potence, which still re- 

 tains its ladder. The walls are nearly three 

 feet thick; and, as in certain dovecotes we 

 shall later see — though not to such a marked 

 extent as in some cases — the surface of the 

 floor is well below the level of the ground out- 

 side. 



