450 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1896. 



tliey have oeen cut on only one side of the edge. The purpose of these 

 notches is entirely unknown; they might have been utilitarian or orna- 

 mental, but in our i^resent state of knowledge no one is justified in 

 saying which. They are submitted as possible ornamentation. The 

 third specimen represents one of these objects in which the drilling has 

 just been completed, when the object split longitudinally. It is pre- 

 sented to show ^.he drilling with all its interior ridges before being 

 smoothed, and one may see by the failure to complete the hole how the 



drilling had all 

 been done from 

 one end. 



Bird-shaped ob- 

 jects. — Fig. 105 is 

 from western New 

 York. It is made 

 in the form of a 

 bird, which from 

 the number of 

 similar specimens 

 have given the 

 nameto this class. 

 The eyes are rep- 

 resented by great 

 protnberances 

 which must have 

 greatly increased 



the difficulty of manufacture. It was made from a bowlder or large 

 jiiece, and while the material is hard, it is not tough but rather fragile. 

 It could not be chipped like flint nor whittled like soapstone, but must 

 have been hammered or pecked into shape and afterwards ground to 

 its present form, then polished until it is as smooth as glass. A con- 

 sideration of the conditions demonstrates the difficulty of making this 

 object and the dexterity and experienced working required. The 

 United States National Museum possesses many of these specimens. 

 While they bear a greater resemblance to birds than anything else, 

 yet scarcely any two of them are alike, and they change in form 

 through the whole gamut until it is difficult to determine whether it is 

 a bird, a lizard, or a turtle, and finally the series ends in a straight bar 

 without pretense of representing any animal. 



Boatsliaped objects. — Fig. lOG represents a boat-shaped object, so 

 called for the same reason that others were called bird shaped — because 

 it was nearer that than anything else. There is an extensive series of 

 these, from those closely resembling a boat and elaborately and care- 

 fully made to those of the rudest form. They, like all the others, have 

 been brought to the general form by hammering or ])ecking and theu 

 grinding and polishing. Their purpose, also like the others, is unknown. 



Fig. 104. 

 BANNEJi, STONE OV SLATE, CURIOUS FORM, BROKEN. 



Nori'istown, Pennsylvania. 



Cat. No. 8024, U.S.N.M. ^ natural size. 



