HOLMES]. LIFE FORMS IN DECORATION 107 



ing being placed at the back of the neck. The wings and other features 

 of the body appear to have been depicted in incised lines. The little 

 vase shown in plate lvi*/, from the Bear Point mound, is cleverlj' 

 modeled to represent a frog, and shows close analogies with the Missis- 

 sippi vallej^ work. 



The builders of the sand mounds on Perdido bav seem occasionallj' 

 to have executed very elal:»orate engravings of eagles and serpents on 

 cylindric cups, which ~proba])h' served as ceremonial drinking vessels; 

 illusti'ations are given in plate LVii. The first figui'e. (i. represents 

 the base of a cup which is encircled by the engraving of an eagle; the 

 second figure, 5, represents a fragment of a handsome cup of similar 

 shape, and serves to indicate the relation of the figure of the ))ird to 

 the rim of the cup. Part of the tail. tak)ns, and wing are shown. 

 In c we have all that remains of the design on the cup a projected at 

 full length. The strange figure illustrated in <1 was obtained from 

 much shattered fragments of a well-made and neatly finished cup of 

 cylindric shape. It seems to represent the tails of three rattlesnakes, 

 the lines joined at the right as if to repi'esent a single body. 



In plate LViii a, ?>, c, (7, and e, we have examples of the modeling of 

 heads of })irds and other creatures for bowl embellishments. The 

 treatment closelj' resembles that seen in more western work. Here, 

 as in the Mississippi countrj', the duck is a favorite subject. In ./"we 

 have a grotesque creature common in the art of the West. An eagle 

 is well shown in t. and what appears to be the head of a servient or 

 turtle with a stick in its mouth is given in h. This feature apj^ears in 

 the wares of Tennessee and Arkansas, the animal imitated being a 

 beaver. Additional specimens apf)ear in jilate lix. three representing 

 the human head and one the head of a bird. These are not figurines 

 in the true sense, but are merely heads broken from the rims of liowls. 



^Ir Moore's collections from the Bear Point mounds fui'nish several 

 very well-preserved specimens of bowls and vases with wide mouths 

 and narrow collars, liesides a numl^er of heads of liirds and mammals of 

 usual types, derived, no doubt, from the rims of bowls. All repeat 

 rather closely the finds of Mr Parsons, shown in plates i.iv to lix. 

 Specimens from Mr Moore's collections are presented in plates Lx 

 and Lxi. 



Pottery of the Alabama Rivek 



Before jDassing eastward it will be well to notice the collections made 

 by Mr Clarence B. Moore in the vallej^s of the Alabama and Tombig- 

 bee. An examination of the superb series of vases obtained from 

 mounds at several points between Mobile and Montgomer}' makes it 

 clear that the Gulf Coast tribes extended inland well up toward the 

 middle of the state. Below Montgomerv there is hardlv a trace of 



