136 



ANIMAL CARVINGS. 



not known to exist anywhere within the limits of the United States. If we are not 

 mistaken in supposing it to represent this bird, the remarks made respecting the sculp- 

 tures of the mauitus will here apply with double force. 



This sculpture is 

 fortunately easy of 

 ideu tificiitiou. 

 Among sevei'al or- 

 nitbologists,wbose 

 opinions have been 

 asked, not a dis- 

 senting voice has 

 been heard. The 



bird is a common fig. IS.-Toucan of Sq.iier and Davis. 



crow or a raven, and is one of the most happily executed of the avian 

 sculptures, the nasal feathers, which are plainly shown, and the gen- 

 eral contour of the bill being truly corvine. It would probably be 

 practically impossible to distinguish a rude sculpture of a raven from 

 that of a crow, owing to the general resemblance of the two. The pro- 

 portions of the head here shown are, however, those of the crow, and 

 the question of habitat renders it vastly more likely that the crow was 

 known to the Mound-Builders of Ohio than that the raven was. What 

 possible suggestion of a toucan is to be found in this head it is not easy 

 to see. 



Turning to page 266 (Fig. 178) another and very different bird is held 

 up to view as a toucan. 



Fig. 16. — Toncan of Sqnier and Davis. 



Squier and Davis remark of this sculpture : 



From the size of its bill, and the circumstance of its having two toes before and 

 two behind, the bird intended to be represented would seem to belong to the zygodac- 

 tylous order— probably the toncan. The toucan (Ramphastos of Lin.) is found on 

 this continent only in the tropical countries of South America. 



Iq contradiction to the terms of tlieir description their own figure, as 

 will be noticed, shows three toes in front and two behind, or a total of 

 five, which makes the bird an ornithological curiosity, indeed. How- 



