ioo THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS 



"the avail of the skaith done," the offender was to pay for 

 the first fault "ten punds," for the second "twentie punds," 

 for the third fault "fourtie punds" and 



in case the offendours be not responsall in guddes...he sail' for the first 

 fault be put in the stokkes, prison, or irones auct [eight] dayes, on bread 

 and water: And for the second fault, fifteene dayes... and for the third fault 

 hanging to the death. 



These Acts, some of which were repealed only in 1906, 

 clearly imply that proprietary right in the dovecot pigeon 

 was becoming more definitely recognized, and that the 

 keeping of pigeons was becoming more and more common : 

 that indeed the domesticated status of the pigeon of the 

 dovecot was rising. So rapidly did dovecots increase in 

 number, and so grievous was the destruction of grain caused 

 by their inhabitants the 36,000 pairs of breeders in the 

 360 dovecots of Fife are said to have consumed 3000 to 

 4000 bolls of wheat a year that in 1617 the law put a check 

 upon their erection, ordaining that only one dovecot should 

 be allowed to each estate of the yearly rental of ten chalders, 

 a chalder being equivalent to almost eight Imperial quarters. 



The heydey of the dovecot is long gone by, for farmers 

 found that their wheat was of more value than many pigeons 

 (in Roxburgh in 1813 the birds could be bought for from 

 is. 6d. to 2s. 6s. a dozen), and this together with the trans- 

 forming of much arable land to pasture, and the decrease in 

 the acreage of pease, emptied many a dovecot of its tenants. 

 So it came to he that most of the pigeon-houses fell to ruins, 

 and while in some counties a few remain to hint at a time 

 when the primitive domesticated race of pigeons swarmed 

 in the land from Dumfries to Caithness, in others even 

 the place where they stood is forgotten how many Aber- 

 donians of to-day are aware that for more than two centuries 

 the ground now occupied by Union Terrace was spoken of 

 only as the "Dove Cott Brae ?" 



Although in England there have been evolved charac- 

 teristic races of such divergent breeds as Pouters, Carriers, 

 and Tumblers, I am not aware that Scotland has given rise 

 to any breed other than her own simple "doos." 



