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VI. On some Fossil Birds from the Zehbug Cam, Malta. 

 By W. K. Pakker, F.R.S., F.Z.S., d-c. 



Eead and received for publication Dec. 12th, 1865. 



[Plate XXX.] 



_b IVE years have elapsed since I first examined numerous bony remains from the Zebbug 

 Cave, the " lamellh-ostral" nature of which was apparent to Dr. Falconer and myself 

 from the first. I transmitted a list of them to that lamented palaeontologist 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 

 theii- 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 hrenta. 



On June the 10th, 1861 (the next summer), I received, through Professor Kupert 

 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 tihia of the largest kind, which is 61 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, m honour of the gi-eat palseontologist whose loss we have so lately 

 suffered, are as follows : — 



VOL. TI. PART in. a 



