6 EARLY ANNALS OF ORNITHOLOGY 
incessant and intent watching of the birds and beasts upon 
which be was dependent for food, has shown himself more 
expert than those who came after him. It is a fact that in 
knowledge of drawing and colour, when delineating objects 
of the chase, he has proved to be more advanced than were 
the men of the Later Stone Age, who many thousand years 
afterwards left us their examples of Neolithic art. 
Animals in the Bronze Age.—The next stage brought under 
our notice is the Bronze Age. Hitherto the rude and uncul- 
tured inhabitants of Great Britain had lived on the wild fruits 
of the land, and on such fish and small game as they could 
catch with the help of sticks and stones. While still possessing 
little or no knowledge of metals, they had to contend with the 
Wolf, the Wild Ox and the Stag, and also with the Bear and 
the Eagle. But a great change was produced when they took 
to fashioning tools, and most likely discovered the art of setting 
snares for birds. As the Bronze period superseded the age of 
stone implements, so was it itself superseded in due course, 
though not until long after, by the use of iron, which prevailed 
among the Romans, and gave still greater facilities for hunting 
and bird-catching. It is hardly to be expected that skeletons 
of birds eaten in the Bronze Age would be preserved, when 
even the remains of much larger animals have proved unable 
to resist the process of disintegration. 
Ancient Records of Geese, Fowls and Pigeons.—Although 
as regards antiquity the prehistoric figures of birds, which 
have been discovered in the cave dwellings of the Neolithic 
hunters, far exceed any other representations, the ancient 
pictures of Egypt, and the bas-reliefs of Babylon must not 
be overlooked. Crude as they are, they afford consider- 
able testimony which can be of use to the naturalist, if only 
because of their being the earliest evidences of bird-life 
in that portion of the globe. One of the most significant of 
these old paintings so far known, is an exceptionally lifelike 
fresco representing six Red-breasted and White-fronted 
Geese, to which attention was drawn by the present writer 
in 1876.* This unique and beautiful relic was obtained 
by the celebrated excavator, Mariette, from a tomb at 
Meidoum in Egypt. The slab was assigned by Mariette 
* “ Naturalist in Egypt,’ p. 120. 
