CHAPTER IV. 



DOVECOTES AND PIGEON LOFTS. 



HAVING considered at some length the structure and hahits of the Rock Dove, 

 and the theory of the origin and perpetuation of the different varieties or 

 breeds, we have now to regard the pigeon as a domesticated animal, and in 

 the first instance to describe the appliances and food that are found best suited 

 to its condition as a domestic bird. Of the old-fashioned dovecote little need be 

 said. Formerly, when the supply of fresh animal food during winter was a matter 

 of great difficulty, the well-stocked dovecote was regarded as an almost indis- 

 pensable addition to every country mansion, and severe penal laws, still unrepealed, 

 were passed for the protection of the inmates. At the present time, when im- 

 proved processes of husbandry give us an abundant supply of beef and mutton 

 during the whole year, dovecotes have lost much of their economic value, and 

 are retained as appendages to many aristocratic country residences, more from old 

 associations than from any particular value. Dovecotes were generally constructed 

 of stone, in the form either of circular towers or placed over a gateway or park lodge. 

 The entrance was not unfrequently made at some distance from the ground, and 

 only to be reached by a ladder, so as to prevent the access of rats, cats, weasels, 

 polecats, foxes, and other enemies. The interior of the tower was furnished with 

 numerous holes or restiug-places, built either of stone or constructed of wood. In 

 these dovecotes large numbers of young birds were reared, and furnished a useful 

 addition to the larder. 



At the present time, pigeons are usually kept either in pigeon-houses or in 

 lofts or rooms specially devoted to the purpose. A pigeon-house on a pole may 

 possibly be regarded as a picturesque addition to a farm or stable yard, but a 

 worse residence for the birds it would be almost impossible to devise. The 

 pigeons in these houses are exposed to all the variations of weather. During the 

 great heat of summer the close nests become offensive from the accumulation of 

 dung and swarm with vermin. Iu the cold weather the young birds frequently 

 perish from the low temperature to which they are exposed, and at all seasons of 

 the year the driving rain is apt to saturate the nests and destroy the vitality of the 

 eggs or the life of the unfledged birds. It is obvious that a pigeon-house can only 

 afford comfortable breeding quarters during a small proportion of the year ; and in 

 inclement seasons is a dreary habitation even tcr full-grown birds. The result of 



