BOOK VIII. viii. 3-6 



they may reach their sleeping-quarters. The whole 

 place and the pigeon-cells themselves ought to be 

 finished off with white plaster, since birds of this kind 

 take a special pleasure in that colour ; also the walls 4 

 ought to be made smooth outside, particularly round 

 the window, which should be so placed as to admit 

 the sun for the greater part of a winter's day and 

 should have adjoining it a fairly large pen, protected 

 by nets to keep out hawks, which may accommodate 

 the doves when they come out to bask in the sun ; 

 through this also the mother-birds, which are sitting 

 on their eggs or their squabs, can be let out into the 

 fields, so that they may not become prematurely aged 

 through the depression caused by the grievous 

 servitude of perpetual imprisonment ; for when they 5 

 have fluttered about a little round the farm-buildings, 

 they are exhilarated and refreshed and return in- 

 vigorated to their young, for whose sake they make 

 no attempt to wander far afield or escape by flight. 



The vessels in which water is provided should be 

 like those used for fowls, so constructed as to admit 

 the necks of those which drink from them and too 

 narrow to allow the entrance of those which wish to 

 wash in them ; for to do so is not good either for the 

 eggs or the young, sitting on which they spend 

 most of their time. It will be found a good plan that 6 

 their food should be scattered near the wall, since 

 generally those parts of the dove-house are free from 

 dung. Vetch or bitter-vetch and next in order lentils 

 and millet and darnel are considered to be the most suit- 

 able foods, likewise the refuse from wheat, also any 

 other kinds of pulse on which hens too are fed. The 

 place ought to be swept and cleaned out from time to 

 time; for the better it is looked after, the more 



