HEREFORDSHIRE 



those yet seen. 



It is a square brick building, two-storied, 

 with walls twenty feet in length. Its four-gabled 

 roof is topped by a lantern of the same form, on 

 the crown of which is a weather-vane in the 

 shape of a fish — appropriate for a building on 

 the bank of so well-known an angler's stream. 

 The lower chamber is supplied with windows, 

 nest-holes being found only in the loft above. 

 This dovecote is particularly charming from the 

 beauty of its situation and the mellow colour 

 of its old brick walls. 



The fish which forms its weather-vane re- 

 minds us of the great diversity displayed by 

 these useful terminals. The arrow and the 

 cock are both comparatively rare. A dragon, 

 shield with coat-of-arms, two-headed eagle, fox, 

 and claw, are known. In the absence of a vane 

 the lantern is frequently surmounted by a pole 

 and ball. 



The shape of the Eardisland dovecote, and 

 both shape and size in the Butt House speci- 

 men, preclude the probability of their contain- 

 ing a potence; "possibility" it is not safe to say, 

 for potences are sometimes found in square 



57 



