THE DOVECOT PIGEON. 363 



immediately force the door to get at the pigeons. Should, however, 

 their original survey of the dovecot, prior to their mounting on it, 

 have shown them that the door is strong enough to resist their 

 attempts to break it open, they take the precaution to leave a man 

 on the roof, where he seizes the pigeons as soon as they become 

 entangled in the net. In the meantime, his associates below tap 

 sufficiently loud at the door of the dovecot to cause the pigeons to 

 start from their roost and try to escape. Thus the hopes of the 

 farmer are utterly destroyed, and a supply of birds is procured for 

 the shooting matches in a manner not over and above creditable to 

 civilised society. It remains with the members of the club to 

 decide whether it be honourable or just in them to encourage these 

 midnight depredators. They must be aware that all the pigeons 

 which they buy are old ones, and that old ones are never offered for 

 sale by the owners of dovecots. The dovecots in this neighbourhood 

 have been robbed repeatedly, and it is well known that the pigeons 

 which have been stolen from them have fallen at shooting matches 

 near forty miles distant. 



No farm-yard can be considered complete without a well-stocked 

 dovecot, the contents of which make the owner a most ample return, 

 and repay him abundantly for the depredations which the pigeons 

 are wont to make upon his ripening corn. He commands a supply 

 of delicious young birds for his table, and he has the tillage from the 

 dovecot, which is of vast advantage to his barley land. Moreover, 

 the pigeons render him an essential service by consuming millions 

 of seeds which fall in the autumn, and which, if allowed to remain 

 on the ground, would rise up the following year in all the rank 

 exuberance of weed, and choke the wholesome plant. A dovecot 

 ought to be well lighted, and it should be whitewashed once every 

 year. The tillage which it produces may be removed early in 

 N'ovember, and again at the end of February. The young of the 

 dovecot pigeon, like all others of the columbine order, are reared in 

 a nest lined by their own dung, which, if left in the hole after the 

 birds are gone, is apt to harbour vermin. Wherefore cleanliness 

 dictates its early removal. No dovecot can possibly thrive if rats 

 have found an entrance into it. These cruel and audacious plun- 

 derers will destroy every young pigeon within their reach. Oust 



