t rain-clouds. This vase (plate CXLIII, _a_, _b_) is also
striking in having a well-drawn figure of a bird in profile, the head,
wings, tail, and legs suggesting a parrot. The zone of decoration of
this vessel, which surrounds the rows of feathers, is strikingly
complicated, and comprises rain-cloud, feather, and other designs.

[Illustration: FIG. 273--Pendent feather ornaments on a vase.]

In a discussion of the significance of the design on the food bowl
represented in plate CXXXIX, _a_, _b_, I have shown ample reason for
regarding it a figure of a highly conventionalized bird. On the upper
surface of the vase (plate CXLIV, _a_, _b_) are four similar designs,
representing birds of the four cardinal points, one on each quadrant.
The wings are represented by triangular extensions, destitute of
appendages but with a rounded body at their point of juncture with the
trunk. Each bird has four tail-feathers and rain-cloud symbols on the
anterior end of the body. As is the case with the figures on the food
basins, there are crosses representing stars near the extended wings.
A broad band connects all these birds, and terraced rain-cloud
symbols, six in number and arranged in pairs, fill the peripheral
sections between them. This vase, although broken, is one of the most
beautiful and instructive in the rich collection of Sikyatki
ceramics.

[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. CXLIII

VASE WITH FIGURES OF BIRDS FROM SIKYATKI]

[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. CXLIV

VASE WITH FIGURES OF BIRDS FROM SIKYATKI]

[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. CXLV

VASES WITH FIGURES OF BIRDS FROM SIKYATKI]

[Illustration: FIG. 274--Upper surface of vase with bird decoration]

I have not ventured, in the consideration of the manifold pictures of
birds on ancient pottery, to offer an interpretation of their probable
generic identification. There is no doubt, however, that they
represent mythic conceptions, and are emblematic of birds which
figured conspicuously in the ancient Hopi Olympus. The modern legends
of Tusayan are replete with references to such bird-like beings which
play important roles and which bear evidence of archaic origins. There
is, however, one fragment of a food bowl which is adorned with a
pictograph so realistic and so true to modern legends of a harpy that
I have not hesitated to affix