Badger.—The quadruped drawn on the inside of a bowl found at Oldtown, and now owned by Mr. E. D. Osborn, has some resemblances to a badger, especially in the head, ears, teeth, and tail. The geometrical design on the body of this animal consists of an unequal sided rectangle enclosing four triangles with angles so approximated as to form an enclosed rectangle. The head has two bands extending longitudinally, apparently conventionalized markings characteristic of this animal, as they do not occur on deer, wildcats, or mountain sheep.
Birds.—As has been pointed out in the author's identifications[40] of designs on Sikyatki pottery, those representing birds are among the most abundant. The same holds also in the pottery from the Mimbres, where several figures identified as birds occur on food bowls. Two of these are duplicated on the same vessel, practically the same figure being repeated on opposite sides. In the latter case each member of the pair faces in an opposite direction or is represented as if moving with the middle of the bowl on the left.[41]
The various birds differ considerably in their forms, organs, attitudes, and appendages. Two of the pictures seem to represent the same bird, but the others belong to different genera. There are one or two figures in which feathers can be distinguished, but as a rule they are fewer in number and the feathers less conventionalized than in Sikyatki pottery.
Pending the difficulty in identifying the various designs representing birds, they are designated by letters A, B, C, D, etc.
Bird A.—The figure shown in [plate 3, figure 1], is represented by two designs, practically the same, repeated so far as appendages go, but quite different in the ornamentation of their bodies. One of these has the same geometrical figure on its body as on one of the quadruped pictures, the second has a different design. Both birds have wings outspread as if in flight, in which the feathers are well drawn in detail, especially the wing on the side turned toward the observer. That on the opposite side is simply uniformly black. The feathers of its companion on the other side of the bowl are indicated by parallel lines. The tail is long and forked at the extremity, suggesting a hawk, and is decorated for two-thirds of its length with cross-hatched and parallel lines. A triangular appendage arises from the under side of the tail at the point where the line decoration ends, forming an appendage which is likewise represented in the companion picture.
Bird B.—Bird B ([pl. 3, fig. 2]) is painted on the interior of a food bowl of black and white ware, ten inches in diameter by five inches deep. Its body is oval, the head erect and undecorated, and the tail twisted from a horizontal into a vertical plane as is customary in representation of lateral views of birds from Pueblo ruins. The geometric figure on the body is unfortunately somewhat obscured by the plaster used in mending, but several parallel bars that may represent feathers of the wings show through it, and a number of other designs or parallel lines are apparent. An appendage of triangular form hangs from the lower margin of the body and indicates the position of one leg; the other leg is missing.
Bird C.—Bird C, shown in [plate 4, figure 1], occurs on a black and white bowl that measures ten inches in diameter, five and one-half inches in depth. The figure occupies the circular zone in the middle of the bowl and is enclosed by parallel lines which surround the bowl near the rim. The top of the head, which is globular, is white in color, the beak projecting and the eyes comparatively large. The body is likewise globular and is covered by a square geometrical design the details of which are considerably obscured by the hole in the middle of the jar. A number of parallel lines of unequal length, turned downward, hang from the rear of the body and form the tail. The long legs suggest a wading bird, and the widely extended claws point to the same identification.
Bird D.—One of the most instructive figures of birds occurs on a bowl from Oldtown ruin. This bowl ([fig. 24]) is now owned by Mr. E. D. Osborn, by whom it was found. The bird depicted on it is seen from the back; its wings are drooping, and parallel lines indicate feathers. The legs, drawn backward, terminate in three toes, and the tail, slightly bent to one side, is composed of several feathers.
Fig. 24.—Bird D.
(Osborn collection.)