PIGEON-HOUSES AND FISH- STEWS. 281 



short limb or entrance is five inches by nine, 

 and the long limb ten inches by five. About 

 forty nests are in each row, making four 

 hundred and fifty in all. The octagonal roof 

 has a pent-house, with holes for the passage of 

 the pigeons. Beneath are a potence and ladder ; 

 the ashlar work of the Pigeon-house being 

 identical with that of the mansion near which 

 it stands. The architect of the latter was Inigo 

 Jones, and it was built during the last decades 

 of the seventeenth century. 



Pigeon-houses are exceedingly common in 

 Persia, as in all parts of Palestine. In the 

 latter country nearly every house has its Cote, 

 those of the more wealthy being built with 

 a number of earthen jars, which are roofed 

 over. Each jar is supposed to accommodate 

 a pair of pigeons, and many such exist in 

 England. In the East the people who are too 

 poor to possess Pigeon-cotes keep the birds in 

 their houses, these entering by the doors and 

 windows. Clouds of them may be seen over 

 the fields, those of different owners flocking 

 together. All the kinds of British wild pigeon 

 are found here, as well as other species and 

 Turtle-doves. One of the most common kinds 



