180 Recent Ornithological Publications. 



" pile-buildings " or " lake habitations " of the ancient inha- 

 bitants of Helvetia have been described by several authors — by 

 MM. Morlot, Trogon, and Keller among others. The animal 

 remains found among their ruins have been investigated by 

 Professor Riitimeyer in two works, of which the last published, 

 'Die Fauna der Pfahlbauten in der Schweiz/ contains all that 

 we at present know on the subject. Bones of no less than 

 eighteen species of birds have been recovered from these monu- 

 ments which the early European races unconsciously heaped up 

 to their own memory. The species, according to ]\Ir. Lubbock, 

 are the following : — 



Aquila fulva. Tetiao bonasia. 



haliaetus (?). Ardea cinerea. 



Falco milvus. Ciconia alba. 



palumbarius. Fulica atra. 



nisus. Larus {sp. indet.). 



Strix ahico. Cygnus musicus. 



Sturuus vulgaris. Anser segetum. 



Cinclus aquaticus. Anas boschas. 



Columba palumbus. querquedula (?) . 



None of these indicate, as in the case of those met with in the 

 Danish " Kitchen-Middens," any remarkable changes in the 

 physical aspect of the country. They were all fi-om old settle- 

 ments of the most ancient or " Stone " period ; but the discovery 

 of a single bone at a station of the " Bronze " age, and attributed 

 by M. Riitimeyer to the Barn-door Fowl {Gallus domesticus), is 

 more suggestive to antiquarians. 



Dr. Bree continues his laudable efforts to make English 

 ornithologists take a greater interest in the 'Birds of Europe 

 not observed in the British Isles,' the forty-third part of his 

 work having made its appearance on the 1st of March last. 

 While we heartily congratulate the author on the general results 

 of his labours, we must confess we cannot view with approbation 

 his repeated attacks upon the Darwinian theory of the origin of 

 species. Of course every one has a right to his own opinions on a 

 question so fraught with difficulties, and we are not now expressing 

 any decided sentiments respecting it. But more than a year ago, 



