Fig. 412, from the Reverend William Beauchamp’s collection, is somewhat different from ordinary bird-stones, although it is included under that class. In 1899 I issued a bulletin, “The Bird-Stone Ceremonial,” which is now out of print. It illustrated fifty-three bird-stones. Since that time Mr. Charles E. Brown has published a study of bird-stones.[[2]] This is an excellent review.
Dr. Thomas Wilson once made a statement[[3]] concerning bird-stones, and I quote one of his paragraphs: “The United States National Museum possesses many of these specimens. While they bear a greater resemblance to birds than anything else, yet scarcely any two of them are alike and they change in form through the whole gamut until it is difficult to determine whether it is a bird, a lizard, or a turtle, and finally the series ends in a straight bar without pretense of presenting any animal.”
Fig. 409. (S. about 1–3.) Collection of Mr. Leslie W. Hills, Fort Wayne, Indiana.
The range of material is from Huronian slate or shale to red sandstone, granite, and porphyry. Usually the stone from which they are made is banded or contains spots of color. They are either red, gray, or brown, with variations. Sometimes feldspathic granite, diorite, and porphyritic-feldspar are made use of. Dr. William Beauchamp gives a very good description of some fifteen bird-stones.[[4]] I have reproduced none of the illustrations he gives, but as his text is timely, I quote at length from his paper:—
Fig. 410. (S. 1–1.) Collection of George Little, Xenia, Ohio.
“The theories about their use seem fanciful, as some certainly are. Two writers assert that they were worn by married or pregnant women only, and many have accepted this statement. Others think they were worn by conjurors, or fixed on the prows of canoes. It is enough to say that some of the perforations are not adapted to any of these uses. It seems better to class them with the war and prey or hunting gods of the Zuñis, some of which they resemble. In that case the holes, of whatever kind, would have given a firm hold on the thongs which bound the arrows to the amulet, a matter of importance in an irregular figure.
“These perforations form the most important feature. The amulet may be but a simple bar, but to each end of the base is a sloping hole, bored from the end and base and meeting. To this necessary feature may be added a simple head or tail, and there may also be projecting ears. None of these are essential. They are but appropriate or tasteful accessories.
“Two notable collections contain a large number of amulets. In the Canadian collection at Toronto there are about fifty bird-amulets.”