1908-1909.] Old Dovecots {Scotland), 105 



of great value, when much attention was bestowed on the 

 housing of pigeons, they being held in high esteem as food 

 when the raising of poultry was attended by greater risks 

 than it is now, owing to the dangers of those uncertain 

 times." 



" Eavelston House Dovecot. — Outside the old courtyard of 

 Eavelston House is a double pigeon-house, with slanting roof 

 of stone flags. The interior of each division is square, giv- 

 ing accommodation for about 800 birds, and having a sunk 

 bath in the centre of the floor. This double dovecot was 

 built probably about 1630, the date of the fountain. It ap- 

 pears to be of later date than the circular dovecot on the 

 Corstorphine estate." 



'Eosyth Castle' (Alan Eeid, F.S.A.). 1904. "Eosyth 

 Pigeon-House. — MacG-ibbon and Eoss write regarding certain 

 features of this curious structure : ' The dovecot at Eosyth 

 is oblong in plan, with a fine stone roof and gable ends 

 having crow-steps with gablets — a form by no means common 

 in Scotland. There is a remarkable scroll carved on the lintel 

 of the doorway.' 



" It will not be out of place to supplement that note with 

 such further remarks as may more completely appraise this 

 unique example of an ancient manorial appendage. A rough- 

 and-ready though careful enough calculation showed that 

 there were 1500 square apertures or ' pigeon-holes ' in the 

 building, entrance and exit to and from which, as far as 

 pigeons were concerned, had been through a strikingly formed 

 circular opening in the centre of the vaulted roof. In the 

 days when pigeon-pie had formed a common dish, when sport 

 perforce may have had to be found within the radius of the 

 castle walls, and when lime -deposits were a useful and a 

 marketable commodity, every shelf would have its occupant, 

 and to mark the gyrations of the dove cloud over its abiding- 

 place would not be the least among the pleasures of the fair 

 dames of the castle." 



(The scroll over the doorway is supposed to represent 

 a serpent.) 



'Scotland of To-day' (Henderson and Watt, 1907). — "The 

 Kingdom of Fife. Of old this county was noted for the 

 number of its lairds and the number of their law-pleas and 



