36 PREHISTORIC FISHING. 



rat, beaver, lynx, wild cat, hedgehog, black bear, and mouse. Next to the 

 sea-animals, the stag, roe, and wild boar evidently constituted the principal 

 food of the coast-people. The dog, which is represented by a small race, 

 seems to have been their only domesticated animal, and, as the bones show, 

 was also eaten by them, as it is by our Indians, who keep dogs as companions, 

 and use them as food, especially on solemn occasions. The urus (Bos priini- 

 genius, Boj.) has become extinct within historical times, and the wolf, black 

 bear, wild cat, lynx, and beaver are no longer found in Denmark. No bones 

 of the hare have occurred among the shell-heaps, perhaps for the reason 

 that those ancient people were prevented by superstitious motives, like the 

 Laplanders of our day, from eating that animal. The reindeer and elk arc 

 missing in the kjokkenmoddings, though their former presence in Denmark has 

 been proved by the discovery of their bones. 



Remains of aquatic birds, such as wild ducks, geese, and swans, are often 

 met with among the shells. The great penguin or auk (Alca impennis, Lin.) and 

 the capercailzie or mountain-cock (Tetrao urogallus, Lin.) deserve special mention. 

 The great auk, a bird incapable of flying, being provided with mere apologies 

 for wings, is said to have been totally exterminated everywhere by man. 

 According to Professor Carl Vogt, it was found in Iceland, its last retreat, until 

 the year 1842, after which it became extinct.* The capercailzie, a bird no longer 

 found in Denmark, though still inhabiting the forests of Germany, feeds in 

 spring chiefly on the buds of the pine, a tree not growing naturally at present 

 in Denmark, but A^ery common during the stone age, as has been ascertained by 

 the examination of Danish peat-bogs. Thus it would seem that the disappear- 

 ance of the pine from Denmark caused the capercailzie to leave that country. 

 Remains of the domestic fowl, the stork, swallow, and sparrow are wanting in the 

 kitchen-middens. 



The coast-people broke all the long bones of mammals, or split them length- 

 wise, for extracting the marrow ; those containing no marrow are left entire, but 

 gnawed both by men and dogs, as the impressions of the teeth indicate. 



Human remains, attributable to the people of this period, have not been 

 met with among the debris. 



Capture of Molluscs and Fish. The oyster (Ostrea edulis, Lin.) is the species 

 of shell-fish occurring most abundantly in the kitchen-middens, its shells some- 

 times constituting almost entirely their contents. Next follow, in the order of 

 their frequency, the cockle (Cardium edule, Lin.), mussel (Mytilus edulis, Lin.), 

 and periwinkle (Littorina littorea, Lin.), all of which are eaten by man at the 

 present time. Other marine and even terrestrial shells, such as Nassa reticulata, 

 Lin., and species of Euccinum, Venus, Helix, etc., are mentioned as occurring 



* Vogt: Vorlesungen liber den Menschen ; Giessen, 1863; Vol. II, p. 114. 



