BOOK OF DOVECOTES 



any of the specimens already seen. It stands a- 

 bout three hundred yards from the house, on a 

 small hill in a wood, and is built of mixed brick 

 and flints. The height to the eaves is consider- 

 able, being forty feet; the diameter is twenty- 

 one. While the greater portion of the building 

 is of circular form, the first six feet from the 

 ground is octagonal. 



This, at least, is the case externally; but in- 

 side, the whole, from floor to roof, is round. It 

 contains over eight hundred L-shaped nest- 

 holes, with alighting-ledges for each tier. The 

 potence and ladder are in complete working 

 order. The walls are three feet thick, the roof 

 tiled, and surmounted by a lead-covered cupola 

 upon which is a weather-vane. 



We can recall the story of a feast at which the 

 choicest wine was served the last. Old coach- 

 men, consciousofatiredteambefore them, were 

 wont so to husband its strength and speed as to 

 **keep a trot for the town." So, on like plan, a 

 certain Dorset dovecote is reserved to be the 

 lastrecordedintheEnglishsectionofthisbook; 

 a dovecote which, did it possess no beauty in it- 

 self, would yet claim notice, even affection, on 

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