84 BULLETIN 15 6, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



rattle hi£C (U.S.N.M. No. 341038) is shaped in the form of a bird's 

 head. This figure is illustrated as 5 on Plate 25. Bill or beak and 

 eyes are not shown in the illustration. Feathers are represented as 

 raised ridges and by concentric curvilinear parallel grooves. On 

 the centrally placed ridge appear a number of shallow punctations 

 intended to represent the crest of some species of wattled bird. 



Rattles of enrthenware in the form of bird figures resembling the 

 famous bird figure whistles from Chiriqui were found by Linne on 

 the Atlantic coast of Darien. These figurines were, however, not 

 separate but showed lines of fracture where they had been broken off 

 from some earthenware vessel. They resemble applied earthenware 

 animal figurines from the Lower Amazon. Rattles inserted in the 

 hollow foot or annular ring of earthenware vessels found by Linne 

 in Darien on the Atlantic coast are also found in Mexico, Central 

 America, and Bolivia, but do not occur in Santo Domingo, where, 

 however, rattles either in the form of bird heads or other figurines 

 applied as knobbed handle lugs do occur, principally on the northern 

 coast. 



Clay -figurine heads. — It has been customary to refer to the Tainan 

 clay figurine heads as " grotesque." It is apparent that such a term 

 is misleading, in that the " grotesqueness " is due not to intentional 

 deformation or distortion of heads modeled from clay but in part 

 to the technic of the primitive plastic artist following conventional 

 lines of sculpturing and modeling of animal life coming under his 

 observation. The rules are so simple as to make a realistic portrayal 

 impossible. Use of incised lines and pits surrounded with ridges are 

 the simple means employed to achieve artistic results. Some ex- 

 amples are characterized by a rough modeling of the head with 

 frontal, orbital, nasal, and chin eminences well marked. Even such 

 details as ear appendages are modeled out of the solid, but as a rule 

 the eyes, eyelids, nostrils, lips, teeth, headdress, convolutions of the 

 ear, the ear lobe, and mouth are represented by simple applied and 

 incised buttons of clay, modeled with a central depression and an 

 outer raised rim. The lobe is pierced transversely for insertion of 

 a discoidal car ornament. 



Two types of eye modeling may be noted in addition to simple 

 punctate forms. The eyes are formed with a raised ribbon of clay 

 in roughly circular position. The ridge is flat-surfaced or beveled, 

 and is surrounded with an incised circular depression; within is a 

 circular depression or pit, rarely a slit. Again, the eye is repre- 

 sented with a distinctly bulging expression, due to the beveled sur- 

 face of the modeled circular ribbon of clay representing the orbit. 

 The pit is also smaller, and the outer or surrounding incised groove 

 is lacking. An unusual realistic type of a modeled pitted eyeball 

 was recovered from a Constanza midden. 



