64 COPAN. 



the three sets of double tassels hanging from the serpent's head and the sort of 

 curtain fringed with short feathers, which is usually (although not in this instance) 

 ornamented with a diagonal cross (saltire). 



The large feathers of the wings are probably represented as curving round and 

 the tail-feathers as hanging over, in order to form the graceful rosetted feather- 

 edging to the monument. 

 Fig. c is copied from part of the decoration of a wooden lintel (the original is now in 

 the Museum at Basle) taken from one of the Temples at Tikal. It gives a full 

 face view of the bird ; the serpents' heads are inverted and the diagonal cross on 

 the curtain is clearly shown. 



In figs, h & c the curtain and feather-edging is coloured yellow and the tassels 

 blue. 

 Fig. d is a square of picture-writing from an Initial Series heading the hieroglyphic 



inscription on the east side of Stela D at Quirigua. 

 Fig. e from a similar series on Monolith B at Quirigua. In both these examples the 

 birds vary considerably in form, but the chief characteristic of the snake's head 

 on the wing remains the same although the curtain and tassels are absent. 

 The drawings of the picture-writing on the monuments at Quirigua were those first 

 attempted when materials were being collected with a view to the publication of this 

 book, and even with good casts and photographs to work from the task of making 

 intelligible copies appeared to be almost hopeless and the drawings were laid aside for 

 some years. Now that the serpent forms are better understood and especially that of 

 the Serpent Bird, it is possible to account for nearly every line of the complicated 

 decoration. 



It is only natural to find a race dwelling in the Tropics using the brilliant plumage 

 of birds in personal adornment, but the frequent occurrence of the Serpent Bird appears 

 to indicate that that particular conventional form was invested with sacred attributes. 

 And the preference shown in the use of the wing of the sacred bird, especially in head- 

 dresses, accounts for much that is otherwise difficult to understand in the carved 

 ornament. 



Fig. / gives the head and head-dress of one of the figures on a stone lintel from Menche, 

 — here a portion only of the serpent's head can be seen ; but one tassel, the curtain, 

 the short feather-fringe, and the long wing-feathers form prominent features 

 in the design, and there can be no doubt that the wing of the Serpent Bird is the 

 object represented. 

 Figs, g, h, & i are also examples from Copan and Quirigua of the wing of the Serpent 

 Bird used independently in decoration. In fig. i the feathers are entirely omitted, 

 and it is only through the presence of the curtain and diagonal cross that the 

 connection can be inferred. 



