On some fossil birds from the Zebbug cave, Malta / by W.K. Parker.

  • Parker, William Kitchen, 1823-1890.
Date:
[1866]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On some fossil birds from the Zebbug cave, Malta / by W.K. Parker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    By MV. K. Paekee, F.B.S., F.Z.S., &c. Read and received for publication Dec. 12th, 1865. [Plate XXX.] Five years have elapsed since I first examined numerous bony remains from the Zehbug- 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 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 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 Bemicle, 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 tiMa 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 palaeontologist whose loss we have so lately suffered, are as follows:— VOL. VI.—PAET III.