The largest specimen in the collection, shown in Fig. 250, represents an alligator and is finished in the usual conventional style of the alligator group. The air chamber is large and the sounds emitted are full and melodious and are lower in pitch than those of any other instrument in the collection. The cavity in the mouth and head is separated from the body chamber, and, with the addition of earthern pellets, probably served as a rattle. The mouthpiece is in the tail and the finger holes are in the sides of the body.
Fig. 250. Alligator shaped whistle, alligator ware—½.
Mammals are very often reproduced in these instruments. What appears to be the ocelot or jaguar is the favorite subject. A representative specimen is shown in Fig. 251. The mouthpiece is in the tail and one of the sound holes is in the left shoulder and the other beneath the body. The head is turned to one side and the face is decidedly cat-like in expression. The decoration is in black and red and may be taken as a typical example of the conventional treatment of the markings of the bodies of such animals. The tips of the ears, feet, and tail are red. Rows of red strokes, alternating with black, extend in a broad stripe from the point of the nose to the base of the neck. Red panels, inclosing rows of red dots and enframed by black lines, cross the back. On the sides we have oblong spaces filled in with the conventional devices so common in other animal representations. The legs are striped and dotted after the usual manner.
