10 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 76 



The bird in figure 30 has widely extended wings of triangular shape, 

 the feathers being represented by dentations on the lower side ; the 

 tail feathers have characteristic white tips. The body is globular, 

 without legs. There are parallel lines on the head resembling a tuft 

 of feathers. The body decoration is a square enclosing three parallel 

 concentric Hnes and a white interior. The head is turned to one side, 

 but the tail is shown from above. 



Figures 31 (Eisele collection), and ^^2 are representations of a 

 similar bird. The extended wings of figure 31 are crescentic and bear 

 midway three parallel white lines. Along the lower edge of each wing 

 are clubshaped feathers. The head and tail are seen dorsally. The 

 legs are abnormally extended, one on each side. The irregular design 

 just below the neck is a perforation made when the bowl was " killed." 



In figure 33 we see a well drawn representation of a turkey cock, 

 showing the tail feathers twisted vertically out of perspective. The 

 figure below on which it stands is a turkey hen. We have here both 

 sexes of the turkey. It will be noted that the body of the cock is not 

 perfectly square but the surrounding lines are slightly bent or curved, 

 imparting some grace to an otherwise stifif figure. 



As has been stated elsewhere negative pictures of animals or geo- 

 metric designs occur on both Mimbres and Casas Grandes pottery. 

 In these figures the animal is not drawn but a background is painted 

 in such a way that a white figure is represented. In certain Mimbres 

 designs within the profile of the white or rectangular field is a picture 

 in black. A figure of a human being or animal drawn inside the 

 negative of the same is exceptional in pueblo ceramic decoration. 

 An example of this form of design is shown in figure 34. 



The bird represented in figure 34 is double headed and is one of 

 those very exceptional figures in which we have a negative picture 

 overlaid with a positive so that the latter seems to be rimmed with 

 a white border. The body is rectangular, covered by a checkerboard 

 design of small black and white lozenge-shaped figures. The two 

 wings are dentated along their borders; legs short, without claws. 

 The two round heads with short beaks face in opposite directions, 

 and curved appendages recall feathers. 



Remove the picture in black from its setting or background and the 

 negative picture of a bird still remains, or a white figure with black 

 background. There are one or two other examples of similar overlaid 

 pictures in Mimbres picture bowls.' 



' Designs on Prehistoric Pottery from the Mimbres Valley, Smithsonian 

 Misc. Coll., Vol. 74, No. 6, fig. 10, 1923. 



