THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
199 
of the toughest flint. He has also made harpoons 
and spear heads of the bones of animals, and even 0 
fish hooks from oyster shells, and all this, as ha 
been stated, with nothing but the flint tools which 
he has made himself, and in exact imitation of 
those which have from time to time been disco- 
vered. It would be a long task to give a complete 
list of all the various interesting objects he has 
made, from sinkers for fishing-lines to elaborate 
spear heads and axes of various shapes with a 
wonderfully keen edge. He has made beads out 
of amber and perforated them, pierced animals 
teeth of the very hardest enamel for necklaces, 
and on each article has placed a record of the time 
it has taken him to make them, varying from 
many days to a few hours only, thus upsetting the 
idea that they took very long to complete. The 
collection is most interesting in every respect, and 
reflects great credit on the patience of the worker, 
who is in every respect a worthy searcher after 
truth, and of great value to the museum of his 
native town, of which, indeed, he has been to all 
intents the founder. 
One other feature this museum possesses which 
is due to M. Bonfiis and that is a large illustration 
made by himself of all the nets and engines used 
by the natives at the present day for the taking of 
fish in the Mediterranean, which, unfortunately, 
have been employed so mercilessly in and out of 
season that the sea is almost fishless — a result 
which no one regrets more than M. Bonfiis, who 
can hardly speak on the subject with patience. 
Fossil Birds in Corsica and Sardinia. 
On the Pleistocene Bird-remains from the 
Sardinian and Corsican Islands. 
BY II. LYDEKKER B.A., NOV. 1891. 
In this little brochure Mr. B. Lydekker gives us 
the results of his examination of a small collection 
of bird-remains that was obtained by Prof. C. J. 
Forysth- MajoV of Florence from a cave deposit in 
Tavolaro near Sardinia, and from the ossiferous 
breccias found in Sardinia and Corsica. The au- 
thor notes that fossil bird remains were found in 
these areas as far back as 1832 by Rudolf Wagner, 
but that no attempt seems to have been made to 
determine any of them specifically, and in many 
cases even the generic position assigned to them 
was doubtful. 
Of the remains discovered by Prof. Forysth 
Major the majority belong to a number of extinct 
species of bubos, eagles, vultures, rollers, puffins, 
quails, pigeons, swallows, larks, finches, and crows 
This fact he considers to be of much importance 
for it has been already shown by Dr. Adams and 
Dr. Falconer that the extinct mammalia disco- 
vered in Sicily, Malta, and Crete have a distinctly 
African facies and that as the number of extinct 
species found in them is proportionately large he 
thinks that further researches may reveal evidences 
of similar African affinities in Corsica & Sardinia. 
The discovery of these birds will not at present 
admit of a comparison being made, owing to their 
migratory habits; but the presence of an African 
species of Bubo and also of a Roller serve to indi- 
cate the nature of the results that we may expect 
to obtain when further researches have been made. 
It has not been possible to come to any definite 
conclusions regarding all of the extinct species, 
owing, the author observes, to the imperfection of 
the English collection of recent avians skeletons; 
but in those cases where distinctions have been 
made they have been based on well marked 
differences between the fossil and the existing 
form. The most abundant of the fossil forms found 
in the Tavolara cave belonged to Shear-waters, 
Quails, Crows, and Swallows. 
The following is a list of the remains that 
have been determined, a detailed description of 
which occupies the greater part of the brochure. 
Steiges — Bubo cf cinerascens Guerin 
Acc i pxtres — Milvus, cf. ictinus Savigni. Aquila 
sp. Vulturcf. monachus Linn. 
Picari.e — Coraeiascf. abysinnica Bodd. 
Passeres — Corvus corone Linn. Fringillidae 
(sev. sp.) Alaudidce (sev. sp.) Sylviidae (?). Tur- 
didre. Hirundinidm. 
ColumbvE — Columba, cf. livia, Linn. 
Galling — Coturnix communis Bonnaterre. 
Turbinares — P rocellaria (sev. sp.) 
