104 



BULLETIN 87, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Coll., 246717, 246552, U.S.N.M.) It is possible that these objects 

 were part of the paraphernalia of an altar like the birds on the posts 

 of several Ziini altars.^ 



The bird figures mounted on rods, used by the Hopi and Zuiii for 

 ceremonial purposes (figs. 214, 215, Cat. No. 68779, U.S.N.M.), are 

 presumably the modern representatives 

 of the similar objects from the ruins, 

 which, as has been shown, comprise both 

 composite figures and those carved on 



214. 215. 



Figs, 214, 215. — Marionette birds op the Hopi Indians, Arizons.. 



a staff. The latter form is represented in Mexico, where it is con- 

 nected with the migration legend in which the tribes were said to 



have been guided by a fabulous 

 bird. The Lienzo de Jucutacato - 

 depicts the bird guide mounted 

 on a staff which appears to have 

 been thrust in the ground at the 

 end of each stage of the migra- 

 tion, in which the Tarascans and 

 eight Mexican tribes emerge from 

 the seven caves in the west and, 

 led by the bird, seek their final 

 seats in Mexico. 



From a cave south of the Gila 

 River, near Silver City, New 

 Mexico, comes a specimen carved 

 from a single piece of soft wood, 

 rudely made to represent the form 

 of a bird, and painted black on 

 A white margin is painted on the 

 (Fig. 216.) In the center of the 

 body and at the tail are remains of a yucca fiber cord by which the 



^ 23d Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethnolo.<o', pls. 58, 59, and 116. 

 2 Report Smitlisouian Institution, 1886, p. 307. 



Fig. 216.- 



-Carved bird from Silver City, 

 New Mexico. 



the flat surface and yellow below, 

 edge and a band across the tail. 



