SIZE, FORM AND HABIT OF THE EXTINCT MALTESE SWAN CYGNUS FALCONERI

Abstract

SummaryThe giant extinct Maltese Swan is shown in this work to have been a land‐feeding bird, well adapted for walking but with little or no ability to fly. Fossils of the swan prepared during this study comprise the most representative remains in existence; the greater part of the foot skeleton and the frontal part of the cranium are described for the first time. By comparison of the bones with those of living swans I estimate that it probably resembled a scaled‐up Whooper Swan weighing about 16 kg and with a wing span of about 3 m.