In considering the degree of skill exhibited by the mound sculptors in
their delineation of the features and characteristics of animals, it is
of the utmost importance to note that the carvings of birds and animals
which have evoked the most extravagant expressions of praise as to the
exactness with which nature has been copied are uniformly those which,
owing to the possession of some unusual or salient characteristic, are
exceedingly easy of imitation. The stout body and broad flat tail of the
beaver, the characteristic physiognomy of the wild cat and panther, so
utterly dissimilar to that of other animals, the tufted head and
fish-eating habits of the heron, the raptorial bill and claws of the
hawk, the rattle of the rattlesnake, are all features which the rudest
skill could scarcely fail to portray.
It is by the delineation of these marked and unmistakable features, and
not the sculptor's power to express the subtleties of animal
characteristics, that enables the identity of a comparatively small
number of the carvings to be established. It is true that the contrary
has often been asserted, and that almost everything has been claimed for
the carvings, in the way of artistic execution, that would be claimed
for the best products of modern skill. Squier and Davis in fact go so
far in their admiration (Ancient Monuments, p. 272), as to say that, so
far as fidelity is concerned, many of them (_i.e._, animal carvings)
deserve to rank by the side of the best efforts of the artist
naturalists in our own day--a statement which is simply preposterous. So
far, in point of fact, is this from being true that an examination of
the series of animal sculptures cannot fail to convince any one, who is
even tolerably well acquainted with our common birds and animals, that
it is simply impossible to recognize specific features in the great
majority of them. They were either not intended to be copies of
particular species, or, if so intended, the artist's skill was wholly
inadequate for his purpose.
Some remarks by Dr. Coues, quoted in an article by E. A. Barber on Mound
Pipes in the American Naturalist for April, 1882, are so apropos to the
subject that they are here reprinted. The paragraph is in response to a
request to identify a bird pipe:
As is so frequently the probable case in such matters, I am
inclined to think the sculptor had no particular bird in mind in
executing his rude carving. It is not necessary, or indeed,
permissible, to suppose that particular species were intended to be
represented. Not unfrequently the likeness of some marked bird is
so good as to be unmistakable, but the reverse is oftener the case;
and in the present instance I can make no more of the carving than
you have done, excepting that if any particular species may have
been in the carver's mind, his execution does not suffice for its
determination.
The views entertained by Dr. Coues as to the resemblances of the
carvings will thus be seen to coincide with those expressed above.
Another prominent ornithologist, Mr. Ridgway, has also given verbal
expression to precisely similar views.
So far, therefore, as the carvings themselves afford evidence to the
naturalist, their general likeness entirely accords with the supposition
that they were not intended to be copies of particular species. Many of
the specimens are in fact just about what might be expected when a
workman, with crude ideas of art expression, sat down with intent to
carve out a bird, for instance, without the desire, even if possessed of
the requisite degree of skill, to impress upon the stone the details
necessary to make it the likeness of a particular species.