CHAPTER TWENTY 



ONE 



ELSEWHERE IN 



SCOTLAND 



Gathering into our concluding chapter a mis- 

 cellaneous collection of dovecotes from various 

 districts of Scotland, we will begin in the ex- 

 treme north by a visit to the island of Stroma, 

 lying off the north-east corner of Caithness. 

 Here will be found two examples of interest. 



The first is an old bell-shaped dovecote of two 

 stages, standing near to Freswick House. It 

 is about twenty feet in height, has a circular 

 opening in the roof, and contains stone-built 

 nests which begin at a height of seven feet from 

 the floor. This, by the way, is in accord with 

 the advice of Waterton, who tells his readers 

 that the walls should be solid to a height of 

 six feet from the ground as a security against 

 the ''Hanoverian rat." 



The second Stroma example is both inter- 

 esting and unusual; a now roofless building in 

 the middle of a graveyard on the south shore of 

 the island. It is rectangular, constructed ofgrey 



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