The Nahua day sign, Cozcaquauhtli, as previously noted, has the meaning vulture, and we naturally find this bird frequently represented in the Mexican codices. In the Nuttall Codex, the head of the king vulture occurs repeatedly as a glyph for this day. In its less modified forms ([Pl. 18], figs. 2-4), the beak is merely a pair of flattened rami, surmounted proximally by the conspicuous quadrangular knob. The minute hair-like feathers on the otherwise naked head are shown as a fringe at the throat and crown, while a conventionalized ear is represented posteriorly. A series of interesting figures ([Pl. 18], figs. 5-10) illustrates steps in the further reduction of this head to a small glyph in which only the beak with its large squarish knob remains ([Pl. 18], fig. 10).
Black Vulture (Catharista urubu). It is difficult to assign any single characteristic to the figures representing the black vulture (Maya, t
om) other than the long raptorial beak. A number of drawings probably depict black vultures, though this cannot be certainly affirmed. Such are those shown in [Pl. 18], figs. 11, 12, 14, 17; [Pl. 19], figs. 2-4, 13, 14. Stempell considers the vulture shown in [Pl. 18], fig. 13, to be a king vulture, but it has no knob on the beak, and thus is quite likely the black vulture. The fact that its head is shaped much like that of the god with the king vulture head ([Pl. 17], fig. 3) would indicate merely the individuality of the artist. The coloring of the species under discussion is uniformly black in the Dresden and Tro-Cortesianus, except in certain cases where the birds are shown in outline only, as in [Pl. 19], fig. 12. It is not certain, however, that these two last are black vultures, though they suggest the species. The two birds shown in [Pl. 19], figs. 5, 6, are almost surely black vultures, and, as represented in the manuscript, are descending upon a man. Stempell thinks they may be ravens, but this is very doubtful, for the raven probably was unknown to the Mayas, since its range is to the northward. What appears to be a crest is seen on the head of the bird in [Pl. 19], fig. 4. The black coloring and the shape of the bill otherwise suggest the black vulture, though perhaps the crest would indicate the harpy eagle. Similarly, [Pl. 19], fig. 14, is provided with a sort of tuft or crest, but its general appearance is suggestive of the vulture. A pottery whistle (text [fig. 2]) from the Uloa Valley evidently represents a black vulture. The head of the bird shows the characteristic wrinkled appearance seen in the drawings, with the heavy beak. The absence of the rostral knob would preclude its being a king vulture.
It is natural that this bird should find an important place in the Maya writing, as it is an abundant species in the region considered, and of great importance as a scavenger. The black vulture seems to lack the mythological character associated with the king vulture. It appears usually in connection with death and in the role of a bird of prey. This is especially true in the Tro-Cortesianus where in 24d, 26d ([Pl. 19], figs. 5, 6) and 28c, it is attacking a human being, in the first and last cases represented as dead. In 86a and 87a, the bird is shown plucking out the eye of a man. In Dresden 3a ([Pl. 19], fig. 7), it appears at the top of the tree above the human sacrifice and seems to be in the act of consuming the victim. In Tro-Cortesianus 91c, it also appears in a tree. In Tro-Cortesianus 40a ([Pl. 17], fig. 9), and 42a ([Pl. 19], fig. 1), it is shown as eating the entrails of a deer. In the first case, the bird looks like a king vulture, although this is the only instance where this species is shown as a bird of prey. In Tro-Cortesianus 28b and 36b ([Pl. 18], fig. 17), the black vulture appears eating the Kan sign. In the first example, the Kan represents the newly sowed corn, in the second, the Kan is held by god F. Landa (1864, p. 230)[333-*] records that in the Cauac year there was a ceremony to prevent the ants and the birds devouring the corn. In Dresden 34b and 35b, the vulture is shown on top of the head-dress of god F, evidently the enemy of the harvest and, again, on 35b ([Pl. 19], fig. 4) on top of the Cauac sign. Its role as a bird of prey is further shown in Dresden 36b ([Pl. 19], fig. 11), where it is shown attacking a serpent.
This vulture is associated with god B in Dresden 69b, with god M in Tro-Cortesianus 70a ([Pl. 18], fig. 12), and with god D in Tro-Cortesianus 67a ([Pl. 17], fig. 1). The last may be the king rather than the black vulture, as suggested above. The black vulture occurs only once as the usual head-dress, in Dresden 17b ([Pl. 18], fig. 13), and here in connection with a female figure and the idea of birth. Two birds, probably vultures, appear over the enclosure around the head of god C in Tro-Cortesianus 100b ([Pl. 19], fig. 12). In the Lower Chamber of the Temple of the Tigers occurs a black vulture in bas-relief with a necklace represented ([Pl. 19], fig. 14).
The glyph of the king vulture has already been discussed. There are other glyphs which seem to show the black vulture, although it is quite possible that no sharp distinction was made between the two in regard to the glyphs at least. In one case ([Pl. 18], fig. 18), the wrinkled skin of the head and neck is indicated much as in the case of the king vulture. A few other glyphs are shown ([Pl. 18], figs. 16, 19, 22, 27), as well as a variety from the Nuttall Codex in which the minute hair-like feathers of the head are variously represented, usually much exaggerated as a sort of crest or comb. [Pl. 18], fig. 22, is interesting as being the only case in the Maya codices where the whole figure is shown in the glyph. As noted in the case of the glyphs of the king vulture, the greater number of these occur quite alone. They seem to indicate that a full drawing of the bird is meant to be understood as occurring below.
Several of the carved glyphs ([Pl. 19], figs. 8-10) show the black vulture heads in some detail with the conspicuously open nostril and hooked beak. A carving of the entire bird may be shown on Stela D from Copan ([Pl. 28], fig. 5), where the naked head and neck are marked off by lines indicating wrinkled skin. The same lines on the neck of the bird depicted on [Pl. 28], fig. 2, will probably identify it as a vulture, and, if the square ornament above the beak certainly is part of the figure, it is unquestionably the king vulture. The knob is not, however, clearly on the bird’s beak. There are two interesting glyphs which occur on the eastern façade of the Monjas at Chichen Itza. The glyphs in this inscription are unlike the usual Maya hieroglyphs, although several of the so-called constellation signs can be made out. The two glyphs in question represent the entire body possibly of a vulture, that on [Pl. 17], fig. 13, probably the king vulture, and that on [Pl. 18], fig. 14, the black vulture.