[ 119 J 
VI. On some Fossil Birds from the Zebbug Cave, Malta. 
By W. K. Parker, F.2S., F.ZS., &e. 
Read and reeeived for publication Dec, 12th, 1865. 
[Puate XXX. ] 
Five years have elapsed since I first examined numerous bony remains from the Zebbug 
Cave, the “lamellirostral” nature of which was apparent to Dr. Falconer and myself 
from the first. I transmitted a list of them to that lamented paleontologist for his and 
Captain Spratt’s inspection, the latter gentleman having taken an active part in exhuming 
these treasures. A fresh examination of them has not. changed my views as to their 
nature; and I can now refer to figures of the most important, drawn side by side with 
their counterparts in the common Swan (Cygnus olor). The specimen of this species, the 
bones of which I have used for comparison, was a fine old female, 5 feet long from the 
tip of the beak to the end of the tail, not so large as the male, but a large bird notwith- 
standing. As half or more of the fossil bones evidently belonged to a Swan about one- 
third larger than my specimen of the tame kind, it must have been a noble creature, 
and its extinction is to be deplored as much as that of the Dinornis and the Dodo. 
Many of the bones belonged to a smaller kind than even the common mute species : 
it was about the size of a male Bewick’s Swan, or the female of the Common Hooper 
(C. musicus); some, however, belonged to a bird as large as the male Hooper. There 
were also some bones of much smaller dimensions; these appear to have belonged to a 
small Bernicle, such as the Bernicla brenta. ; 
On June the 10th, 1861 (the next summer), I received, through Professor Rupert 
Jones, another parcel of these bones; and last autumn Mr. Busk put into my hands the 
hinder part of the skull of the largest kind, which, with a few thigh-bones of the same 
species, he had received from Dr. Leith Adams, of Malta. 
Altogether there are in my hands about three pounds’ weight of fragments, amounting 
to several dozen in number. About one-fifth of these are indeterminable, on account of 
their worn and comminuted condition. The only bones quite perfect are phalanges ; and, 
with the exception of the lower part of a tidia of the largest kind, which is 6} inches 
long, the pieces are from 1 to 4 inches in length. Mr. Erxleben suggests that they are 
the remains of feasts held by foxes—a very good suggestion, as far as I can see. 
The specimens of bones belonging to the largest kind of Swan, which I propose to 
call Cygnus falconeri, in honour of the great paleontologist whose loss we have so lately 
suffered, are as follows :-— 
VOL. VI.—PART III. 8 
