LAUFER, THE DECORATIVE ART OF THE AMUR TRIBES. 21 



the forms of the bodies, the attitudes, and the manner of stepping, of the single 

 birds. 



Fig. 4, Plate vi, is an ornamentation on the surface of a birch-bark hat, the 

 rim of which is covered with an uninterrupted sequence of double spirals sending 

 off little branchlets. In the main field three naturalistic cocks standing upright 

 are observed, beak and eye being indicated, a circle being placed over their heads, 

 and, what is most singular, two long stretched-out feet with spurs are to be seen. 

 The pinions are represented by a semicircle with a recurved hook on one side ; 

 the tail, by a spiral with short appendage of a form similar to that on the rim, 

 above which are three tail-feathers. On the body we see a picture of a fish 

 consisting of two parts, the head and the tapering body. It is worthy of note, 

 in what graceful forms the outlines of the bodies of the two animals are adapted 

 and assimilated to each other. 



Fig. i, Plate vn, represents the side of a Goldian birch-bark basket. The 

 decorative field is enclosed by a triple border consisting of a meander, an invected 

 line, and a row of braces which are apparently derived from the form of the 

 cock-spur, and which I have therefore styled &quot; spur-ornaments.&quot; The rectangle 

 is divided into two parts which are separated by three figures, a carp realistically 

 drawn (), a large conventionalized fish with long prominent fin (/;), and a 

 small conventionalized fish (c). In the field on the right two cocks are visible, 

 their heads turned downward, and in their beaks trichotomous fishes convention 

 alized in the same form as in c. The four tail-feathers are turned upward ; and 

 the bent feet, stretched out to both sides, are remarkably long. The feet of the 

 bird on the right terminate in a mucronated process, in a style assimilated to that 

 of the tail-feathers, whereas on the other side they run parallel to each other. 

 The space between these two birds is filled with drawings of fishes, between 

 their heads the rather natural-looking fish d ; between their tail-feathers the tail of a 

 fish (e), apparently lacking a head ; and between their bodies the rosette/, the four 

 leaves of which show the same form as the fish-body in &amp;lt;/. On the other side of 

 this rectangular field we see two cocks, one above the other, the upper of which 

 is looking toward the left, and the under one toward the right. The style of 

 drawing of these two birds tallies with that of the other two, except that the eyes 

 are not indicated by dots, as in those, and that they hold in their beaks, not one 

 fish, but each two fishes. Both of these fishes are scalloped on the upper edge ; 

 but in the lower fish, that terminates in a scroll, the scallops are more sharply cut. 

 In the body of the under fish the design of a bipartite fish is represented, and 

 runs parallel to the outlines of the fish. In the upper cock the pinions are 

 symbolized by a spiral, which, however, is disconnected from its body ; whereas in 

 the lower cock, in lieu of spirals, are two comma-shaped figures (g; li) which 

 seem to be derived from the fish-body. To the extreme left, beyond //, is 

 a very curious form of a conventionalized fish, made up of a circle and a 

 curved serpentine stripe. The feet of the cocks are fashioned in the same 

 way as those of the neighboring birds on the other side, except that here 



