338 ANIMAL FIGURES IN THE MAYA CODICES 



what mottled. A dark ring usually surrounds the eye. It 

 is, with little doubt, the screech owl, the only other form of 

 eared owl commonly met with in the Central American region, 

 and in Yucatan is represented by the race above indicated. 

 This owl, under the name of the Moan bird,* is always asso- 

 ciated with the idea of death among the Mayas. The famili- 

 arity of this species and its mournful quavering cry uttered 

 at night have no doubt led to its association with death and 

 mystery as with owls in other parts of the world. 



This Moan bird has an important place in the Maya pan- 

 theon, as it is the representative in many places of god A, 

 the Death god. It appears with a human body in Dresden 

 7c (PI. 23, fig. 1), 10a (PI. 23, fig. 8), and 11a (PL 23, fig. 3) 

 and in Tro-Cortesianus 66a (PL 23, fig. 2). In each of these 

 places, it occupies the space in which one of the regular gods 

 is usually found. In Dresden 10a, the day reached in the 

 tonalamatl reckoning is Cimi, meaning death, and here, as 

 has been noted, is found the Moan bird, the symbol of death, 

 with another sign of death in the circle just above the head 

 of the bird (PL 23, fig. 8). 



This owl is used as a head-dress itself, but always for 

 women, Dresden 16a (PL 23, fig. 19), 18b (PL 23, fig. 5), 

 Tro-Cortesianus 94c (PL 23, fig. 4), and 95c (PL 23, fig. 20). 

 It occurs in both manuscripts in the pages mentioned several 

 times before, where birth, baptism, and the naming of children 

 are shown. The curious figure, with a head similar to PL 23, 

 fig. 21, carried on the back of some of the women, .is the Moan 

 sign, referring to the idea of death, possibly to still-birth, as 

 copulation and birth are shown in this section of the codex 

 (Dresden 18c, 19c). The Moan is found associated with 

 man only once in the manuscripts. In Tro-Cortesianus 73b 



♦Brinton (1895, p. 74), according to our interpretation, makes a mistake 

 when he considers the crested falcon as the Moan, "in Maya muan or 

 muyan." He adds, "Some writers have thought the moan bird was a 

 mythical animal but Dr. C. H. Berendt found the name still applied to the 

 falcon. In the form muyan, it is akin in sound to muyal, cloud, muan, 

 cloudy, which may account for its adoption as a symbol of the rains, etc." 



