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PIGEON-COTS AND 



tempted, above their strength, to take up their abode 

 in it, and hatch a succession of young ones there. 



Nothing can be more attractive to the pigeon 

 family, than the dove-cot well white-washed inside 

 and out ; nor is there anything more repulsive than 

 one that is filled with filth. Ovid the Eoman poet 

 says. 



" Aspicis ut vemunt ad Candida tecta columbse ! 

 Accipiet nullas, sordida turris, aves." 



Under our old provincial regulations, the dove- 

 cots throve surprisingly. Markets had a regular 

 supply throughout the season, and the farmer's 

 expectations were amply realized. 



There were always pigeon- cots to be seen in 

 every village, or near to it, in this part of Yorkshire. 



I say, near the village, because our ancient 

 encouragers of pigeons imagined, that if the dove- 

 cot were built in the farm yard, probably the 

 barking of the guard- dog, — the sound of the flail, 

 and the passing to and fro of the labourers, would 

 disturb the incubating pigeons, and thus lesson the 

 profits of the dove-cot. Wherefore, dove-cots were 

 generally built in a croft, at a proper distance from 

 the farm establishment. 



But my father, who was a keen observer of 

 nature, knew better ; and he, at once, erected his 

 modern dove-cot, nearly in the centre of his 



