Ill] OF TURTLE-DOVES 287 



cotes on the tiles* do not possess pigeon houses, 

 though some of these have a plant worth more than 

 100,000 sesterces (;^8oo)? Now I should advise you 

 to buy the whole plant belonging to one of them, 

 and before building- in the country to learn 

 thoroughly here in Rome how to pocket the big 

 gain of fifty per cent.^ every day. Now, Merula, 

 will you go on to the next subject? 



CHAPTER VIII 



OF TURTLE-DOVES 



Said he: For turtle-doves, as for pigeons, you 

 must build a place of a size proportionate to the 

 number of birds you mean to rear, and it, too, as 

 we said when speaking of pigeons, must have an 

 entrance, windows, pure water, and walls and ceil- 

 ings protected with plaster; but instead of pigeon- 

 holes* along the wall, shelves or poles placed in a 



' In tegulis. Cf. Columella (viii, 11, 3): Fiunt arundinea 

 septa in modum cavearum qualia columbaria tectis superpon- 

 untur. 



^ Aedijicas does not seem to be Latin; aedifices should be 

 read. 



' Assem temissem. Victorius (p. 120) says in rcj^ard to this 

 passage: Antiquorum librorum lectio. In excusis ''Ex asse 

 semissem " antea legebatur. This would mean *' the big profit 

 of 50 per cent, a day." 



' Pro columbariis. Because the turtle-dove did not breed in 

 captivity. Cf. Columella (viti, 9, i): Turlurutn educatio super- 



