GENERAL VIEWS ON ARCHEOLOGY. 297 



species still delights at •the present day, as in the neighborhood of 

 Aalborg. 



Among the birds, it is the aquatic and palustrine species that abound. 

 We meet especially with several kinds of ducks and wild* geese. 



The presence of the wild swan (Anas cygnus) proves, that the 

 Kjoekkenmoedding were also in process of formation during the winter, 

 for it is only in winter that this bird makes its appearance in Denr 

 mark. On the approach of spring it returns to the more northern 

 regions. It is then, especially, that is heard its harmonious song, 

 partaking of the sound of distant bells and of the eolian harp, whence, 

 doubtless, the myth of its death chaunt. 



The wood grouse (Tetrao urogattus, L.) is represented by large indi- 

 viduals of vigorous development. We see that the species throve in 

 those countries ; but as it feeds chiefly on pine buds, it follows, that 

 in old times the sea-shore was clothed with pine forests, whilst now-a- 

 days these trees no longer grow naturally in Denmark. We will 

 revert again to this subject, when speaking of peat-bogs. 



A species which it was very surprising to find in the Kjoekkenmoed- 

 ding, and which it was very difficult to identify, for the reason that 

 museums contain only their skins stuffed with straw, without any 

 skeleton, was the Great Penguin, of Buffon, (Alca impennis, L.) This 

 bird, about the size of a goose, was totally incapable of flying, having 

 nothing but the most diminutive apologies for wings or arms unfurn- 

 ished with feathers suitable for flight. It frequented consequently 

 only the small islands where there were no carnivorous animals. In 

 the middle ages the great penguin was found in the islands near the 

 coasts of Newfoundland and Cape Cod, in the United States, then in 

 the islands near the southern shores of Iceland, in the Feroe islands, 

 and at St. Kilda, to the west of the Hebrides. In old narratives and 

 voyages to the Feroe islands we read, that the inhabitants of those 

 regions were in the habit of eviscerating a penguin, thrusting a wick into 

 the cavity of its stomach, setting fire to it, and letting this singular 

 apparatus burn as if it were a lamp, so very fat and oily was the bird. 

 On a little island near the coast of Newfoundland they burned these 

 birds, for want of other fuel, as if they were logs of wood, and in this way 

 they cooked one individual by the help of his companion. The species 

 was so abundant on the islands of the coast of America that navigators 

 very frequently calculated upon them as a fresh supply when their 

 provisions were exhausted in a long passage. Whole boatloads were 

 frequently brought on board. It has, nevertheless, also happened, 

 that certain ships' crews, not meeting with the expected birds, have 

 been driven to eat each other. This species, which was so numerous 

 not very long ago, and of which we still possess a few stuffed speci- 

 mens in museums, appears now to be completely destroyed and extinct, 

 thanks to the omnivorous intervention of man. It was surmised that 

 it might still be found on a small island to the southwest of Iceland ; 

 which is an almost inaccessible rock on account of the breakers. But an 

 expedition that has just been undertaken by Mr. Wolley, to ascertain 

 whether this was so, has not been able to find the lost bird. It is true 

 that Temminck says in his great work on birds, and his words are often 

 repeated by others, that the great penguin is common in Greenland^ 



