PREFACE 



For one apology at least the author oi A Book 

 of Dovecotes has no need; he is not called upon 

 to find excuses for producing "yet another 

 volume" on the subject chosen for his pen. No 

 such work has yet been published, and, with 

 the exception of one or two magazine articles, 

 none of them of very recent date, the enquirer 

 must turn to the Transactions or Proceedings 

 of certain local antiquarian societies; public- 

 ations which, accurate, interesting,and valuable 

 as their contents may be, are not too readily 

 accessible to the general reader. Moreover, 

 such sources of information cover less than half- 

 a-dozen English counties. 



What is the special interest of the subject? 

 "Are not all dovecotes pretty much alike?" it 

 may be asked. The answer to this question is 

 emphatically "No." It wpuld be difficult to find 

 two dovecotes quite identical in every detail, 

 architectural style, shape, size, design of door- 

 way, means of entrance for the inmates, num- 

 ber and arrangement of the nests. For these 

 old structures, built in field or fold-yard, park 

 or garden, date from long ago. They were 

 designed and built by craftsmen gifted with 



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