OBSERVATIONS ON A GOLD ORNAMENT FROM FLORIDA. 29^ 



evidently intended to represent a bird's head, the neck of which forms 

 a blade-like prolongation, and the grotesque execution clearly illustrates 



Gold ornament from a mound in Florida, and head of the ivory-billed ■woodpecker. (|). 



the curious taste characterizing the ornamental work of the IJTorth 

 American Indian. It never would occur to a person of Caucasian origin 

 to represent a bird's head in the peculiar manner here exhibited. The 

 eye of the bird, it should be stated, has been formed with great regu- 

 larity by the process of punching from the under side, and perfectly 

 resembles in size and convexity the head of a common brass tack. 

 However clumsy the design of the object may appear to a common 

 observer, the ornithologists of the National Museum have discovered 

 the prototype that was before the aboriginal artist's mind. The trun- 

 cated bill and recurved crest leave no doubt that he intended to repre- 

 sent the ivory-billed woodpecker {Piciis principalis, Liun. 5 CampepMlus 

 principalis, Gray), a bird quite frequent in Southern Florida, but not 

 found at any great distance from the Gulf of Mexico. To facilitate 

 comparison, a half-size sketch of the head of the ivory-billed wood- 

 XDCcker is placed in juxtaposition with the cut representing the aborig- 

 inal relic. 



The composition of the gold plate from which the specimen is made 

 indicates its post-Columbian origin. Having been forwarded, through 

 the courtesy of Mr. E. B. Elliott, chief clerk of the Bureau of Statistics, 

 to the Mint at Philadelphia, for the purpose of ascertaining its weight 

 and composition or fineness, it was found to weigh 1.53 ounces (troy), 

 and to consist exclusively^ of gold and silver, in the proportion of 893 

 parts of gold to 107 parts of silver. Consequently, the amount of gold 

 therein contained is 1.3GG ounces, and of silver 0.161 ounce (troy). 

 The metal value of the relic is twenty-eight dollars and forty-five cents. 

 According to Mr. Elliott's statement, its composition corresponds almost 

 exactly with that of the "ounce" of gold or quadruple of Spain bearing 

 the date of 1772 ; and this circumstance is not without significance, in 

 so far as it seems to point to the source from which the material of the 

 figure was derived. It may ha.ve been given by Spaniards to some 



