1890.] NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 41 



lizard and turtle; the eagle, hawk, owl, goose, and crane; and 

 fishes. One or two man mounds are known, although most of 

 those so-called are bird mounds — either the hawk or the owl. 

 Sometimes, too, ''composite mounds " are found. Nor are these 

 mounds all that are found. Occasionally the same forms are 

 found iji intaglio, cut into the ground instead of being built 

 above it, but just as carefully and artistically made. Notice, in 

 addition to the form of these strange earth-works, that they are 

 so skilfully done that the attitude frequently suggests action or 

 mood. Nor are they placed at random, but are more or less in 

 harmony with their surroundings. Eemember. too, their great 

 number and their large size — a man 214 feet long, a beast 160 

 feet long with a tail measuring 320 feet, a hawk 240 feet in ex- 

 panse of wing. 



They are unique. To be sure, there are in Ohio three effigies, 

 in Georgia two, and in Dakota some bowlder mosaics in animal 

 form. None of these, however, are like the Wisconsin type. 

 The alligator and serpent of Ohio are different in location and 

 structure from the Wisconsin mounds, and are of designs pecu- 

 liar. The bird mound in the Newark circle is more like a Wis- 

 consin effigy, but it is associated with a type of works not found 

 in the effigy region. The birds of Georgia are different in con- 

 ception, in material, and in build. The mosaics of Dakota are 

 simply outlines of loose bowlders. 



It seems to us that the effigy builders of Wisconsin were a 

 peculiar tribe, unlike their mound-building neighbors in Ohio 

 or the South; that they were a people with a passion for repre- 

 senting animal figures. This passion worked itself out in these 

 earth structures. That a single tribe should be thus isolated in 

 so remarkable a custom is no more strange than that the Haida 

 should carve slate or the Bushman draw his pictures on his 

 cavern walls. 



Who were the effigy builders? This is a question often asked 

 and variously answered. Some writers would refer them to the 

 Winnebagoes, or, if not to them directly, to some Dakota stock 

 from which the Winnebagoes have descended. 



Formerly I was a frequent visitor to the Sac and Fox Reserva- 

 tion in Iowa. About 400 of the tribe are left. To an unusual 

 degree they retain the old dress, language, arts, and dances. 

 With them lived a few Winnebagoes. In general the lives of the 

 two peoples are similar. Certain arts common to both of them 

 particularly interested me. Tliey are the making of sacks of barks 

 and cords, and the weaving of bead bands for legs and arms, 

 upon the ci-bo-lii-han. Of the bark sacks there are several pat- 



