THE MUSEUM. 



II I 



In some places they were piled up two 

 or three deep. 



Vultures.'' Well, I should think so. 

 They must have come from hundreds of 

 miles around, and if any of my brother 

 collectors noticed a decrease in the 

 number of "Buzzards" in their vicinity 

 about that time, it may be surmised 

 that they came to pay a visit to their 

 black friends out at the Prairie; and 

 no doubt they had a picnic for many 

 became so gorged that they could not 

 fly. It was a favorite pastime for the 

 little negro boys to catch the gorged 

 "Buzzards" and "decorate" them with 

 strings, old rags or any thing they 

 could get. Some time ago I saw an 

 article asking if the Black and Turkey 

 Vultures associate with each other. 

 They do, for a short distance from this 

 city they congregate in great numbers 

 every evening about sundown at their 

 favorite roosting place; but they never 

 fuss and the Black and the Turkey 

 sleep together as peaceful as can be. 



But I have wandered from my sub- 

 ject. The Sink became clogged again, 

 the Prairie filled, and now we have 

 Alachua Lake in all its beauty. 



F. Davis, 

 Gainesville Fla. 



Notes From the Mohawk's 

 Country. 



p. M. VAN KPPS. 



II. 



THE BROKEN HATCHET. 



A few years ago I received a pack- 

 age of stone- age implements from 

 Western France, sent me by M. Gail- 

 lard that indefatigable explorer of the 

 wonderful dolmens and other interest- 

 ing remains which so plentifully abound 

 in the vicinity of Carnac, Brittany. 



In this lot was a very small stone celt, 

 or rather the half of a celt, having 

 the cutting edge intact being i§ inches 

 across the slightly ovaled blade, while 

 the extreme length of the implement 

 is I g inches. Without doubt origin- 

 ally socketed in a piece of deer-horn, 

 this little celt, or more properly hatch- 

 et, has served its purpose as such un- 

 til broken by some unlucky blow, af- 

 ter which it would appear that the 

 blade had been made to serve a far 

 different purpose. 



In fact, judging from the indenta- 

 tion made by repeated pounding in the 

 fractured end, it would seem that this 

 little blade had done service as a wedge 

 or chisel, and what more natural than 

 to suppose that it had been used for 

 splitting bones. Among the ancient 

 folk it seems to have been a common 

 custom to fracture and split bones of 

 the various animals killed in the chase 

 to obtain the marrow, for very rnany 

 examples of bones so broken have 

 been obtained from the various rock- 

 shelters and other sites of prehistoric 

 occupancy in Europe and also in other 

 countries. By placing a bone on some 

 hard or solid surface, as on a boulder, 

 and by holding this little remainder of 

 a hatchet in place ^s a chisel or wedge, 

 with the finger and thumb of one hand; 

 a blow given from an oval pebble or 

 hammer-stone {percutenr) held in the 

 other hand would with facility split 

 longitudinally any of the smaller bones. 



Such secondary adaptation of weap- 

 ons and implements, accidently broken, 

 to other than their original use has 

 been many times noted. To mention 

 another instance, a friend has in his 

 collection the base of a lance or spear- 

 head of flint which originally has had 

 a length of nearly four inches judging 



