216 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. X. 



correspond to two quarters, the latter to the east, the former to the south; 

 so that in the case of an exiled official his wanderings east and south may 

 be symbolized, or that the break of the ring may indicate a sorrow par- 

 ticularly felt in the spring and summer, or in a more abstract way, that 

 there is a gap in the spring and summer of life. We shall come back 



a Fig. 117. b 



Incomplete Jade Ring, kileh. Upper and Lower Faces. 



to the subject of these rings in a consideration of the later development 

 of the girdle-pendants. 



It should, however, be added that this explanation can be accepted 

 only provisionally, as it does not agree with the archaeological facts. 

 In all representations of "the Scarlet Bird," as far as known to me, the 

 bird intended is not a quail but apparently a kind of pheasant. In the 

 Chinese art-journal Shen chou kuo kuang tsi, No. n (published in Shang- 

 hai) there is on Plate V the illustration of a very interesting stove of, 

 Han pottery showing the animals of the four quarters, one on each of 

 the four sides. The unusual feature of this design is that "the Green 

 Dragon" and "the White Tiger" are here associated each with the 

 figure of a man; and "the Scarlet Bird" is delineated as a large heavy 

 strutting bird with a high crest and a big bunch of curved tail-feathers, 

 almost in the style of a peacock ; it may be any species of a large bird, 

 but it is certainly not a quail. 



