440 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1897. 



There can be but little doubt that fig. 66 is a representation of a wild 

 pigeon, a bird which but a few years ago migrated south iu the fall and 

 north iu tlie spring to their breeding grounds. They were in such vast 

 numbers as to break the limbs of the trees where they stopped to roost 



or to feed on acorns, and in their flight 

 would obscure the face of the sun for 

 hours at a time. This pipe was found 

 in Decatur County, Tennessee, collected 

 by Mr. W. M. Clark; it is 11 inches long, 

 4 inches high, and the bowl is 2 inches 

 in exterior diameter, the diameter of the 

 interior of the bowl being 1| inches, 

 and the opening of the stem, which is 

 located under the tail of the bird, is 

 about one- half the diameter of the bowl ; 

 and as a rule this proportion of the bowl 

 and stem holes will hold good in the 

 I type. The head and body of this bird 

 I "1 are tolerably well formed, though the 

 fc I a wings, it may be seen, are treated in a 

 g S 1 purely conventional manner, crossing 

 I I I on the back near their points, the bird 

 , o ^ ^. being carved from a black chlorite. 

 g I ^ The eyes of these birds are depressed, 

 < " S though it would be difficult to say 

 S I I whether it was intended in any case to 

 ^ ° insert artificial ones. The pigeon, like 

 « the buffalo, has disappeared so com- 

 pletely from its former haunts, that one 

 would hardly know which way to turn 

 to obtain a specimen were it desired 

 for a collection. 



Unfortunately the specimen is broken, 

 yet what remains of fig. 07 is an un- 

 usually spirited example of the wood 

 duck — of all American birds the one 

 with the most beautiful plumage. It 

 is of steatite, from Cumberland County, 

 Tennessee, is 1) inches long, 4 inches 

 high, and 4.4 inches wide; and was col- 

 lected by Mr. Lorenzo A. Stratton. The 

 break of this pipe is through its plane of cleavage, and as the speci- 

 men has been completed the break has occurred since it was finished. 

 The crest and legs of the bird, the latter poorly executed, leave no 

 doubt that the wood duck was intended. The feathers are rudely 

 designated on the wings in wavy lines with the point of some rude 

 tool, possibly of stone. 



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