PIGEON-HOUSES AND FISH- STEWS. 279 



Macaulay reminds us of the Fish-ponds in 

 which Carp and Tench were fattened for table ; 

 the Warrens of Conies, and the large round 

 Dovecot rising in the immediate neighbourhood 

 of the abodes of the great and wealthy, of the 

 castle, the convent, and the manor-house. 



To-day there is hardly a Hall or Keep in the 

 North which does not show traces of its Dovecot 

 or Pigeon-house; and when the actual cote is 

 wanting, the name is almost sure to belong 

 to some part of the demesne showing where 

 it formerly stood. Thus there are dovecot— 

 pigeon-house — and culver-house fields, upon 

 which there are now no such buildings. Often 

 the roost was situate among farm buildings, 

 or sheltered by the massive masonry of the 

 courtyard walls. The flocks of pigeons which 

 this semi-domestication fostered often consisted 

 of enormous numbers, and we are told that 

 " corn were much destroyed by them." Hartlib, 

 in his " Legacy of Husbandry," calculated that 

 in his time there were twenty-six thousand 

 Pigeon-houses in England. He further com- 

 puted that by allowing a thousand birds to 

 each Dovecot, and four bushels yearly to be 

 consumed by each pair, the amount of corn 



