76 Recent Ornithological Publications. 



vantage of the great additions to our knowledge of tbe subject 

 contained in Mr. Hewitson's last edition. Had he done so at 

 the be2;innins;, he would not have hazarded such an assertion as 

 that " we have very slight evidence of the Golden Eagle now 

 breeding in Britain" (p. 5) ! ! 



' The Natural History Review/ which seems to include natu- 

 ralists of all kinds in its present editorial staff, has not hitherto 

 contributed much to our special branch of science. Never- 

 theless some " ornithological boulders" (if we may be par- 

 doned the violence of the metaphor) are occasionally scattered 

 throughout its pages; and its last number (for October 1861) 

 contains a paper by Mr. Lubbock (entitled " The Kjokkenmod- . 

 dings : Recent Geologico-archseological Researches in Denmark") 

 on a subject highly interesting to all naturalists, the ornitho- 

 logical portion of which, though not occupying much space in 

 the article itself, should not be passed unnoticed by us. Some 

 years since, three Danish men of science, each holding a pro- 

 minent position in their respective departments of learning — 

 Eorchammer the geologist, Worsaae the archaeologist, and Steen- 

 strup the naturalist — combined to investigate some remarkable 

 formations, respecting the origin of which wise heads had long 

 been puzzled. Success, such as they at first could never have 

 anticipated, crowned their labours. Mr. Lubbock's most in- 

 structive paper gives, we believe, the first account of them which 

 has appeared in the English language. We can here only state 

 briefly that these formations, consisting of large deposits of 

 shells, mixed with bones and rude flint implements, have been 

 incontestably proved to be the rubbish-heaps of the ancient in- 

 habitants of Denmark ; and hence the name by which they are 

 now known in that country. How important to the ornitholo- 

 gist these relics of a former age are, may be at once seen from 

 the fact that among the birds' bones discovered in the " kitchen- 

 middens " are those of two species which have never been known 

 as natives of Denmark within the historic or even the traditional 

 period. Mr. Lubbock says : — 



" The remains of birds are highly interesting and instructive. 

 The domestic Eowl [Gallus domesticm) is conspicuous by its ab- 



