In plate CLII, _a_, is shown a compound figure of doubtful
significance, made up of a series of crescents, triangles, and
spirals, which, in _c_, are more compactly joined together, and
accompanied by three parallel lines crossing three other lines. The
curved figure shown in _b_ represents three feathers; a large one on
each side, inclosing a medially smaller member. In _d_ is shown the
spiral bird form with appended feathers, triangles, and terraced
figures. Figure _f_ of this plate is decorated with a design which
bears many resemblances to a flower, the peripheral appendages
resembling bracts of a sunflower. A somewhat similar design is painted
on the side of the helmets of some _katcina_ dancers, where the bracts
or petals are colored in sequence, with the pigments corresponding to
the six directions--north, west, south, east, above, and below. In the
decoration on the ancient Sikyatki bowl we find seven peripheral
bracts, one of which is speckled. The six groups of stamens(?) are
represented between the triangular bracts.
The designs shown in plates CLIII to CLV, inclusive, still preserve
the spiral form with attached feathers, some of them being greatly
conventionalized or differentiated. In the first of these plates
(figure _b_) is represented a bird form with triangular head with four
feathers arranged in fan shape. These feathers are different from any
which I have been able to find attached to the bodies of birds, and
are thus identified from morphological rather than from other reasons.
The body of the conventionalized bird is decorated with terraced
figures, spirals, flowers, and other designs arranged in a highly
complicated manner. From a bar connecting the spiral with the
encircling line there arises a tuft of feathers. Figure _a_ of the
same plate is characterized by a medially placed triangle and a
graceful pendant from which hangs seven feathers. In this instance
these structures take the form of triangles and pairs of lines. The
relation of these structures to feathers would appear highly
speculative, but they have been so interpreted for the following
reason: If we compare them with the appendages represented in the
design on the vase shown in CXLIII, _b_, we find them the same in
number, form, and arrangement; the triangles in the design on this
vase are directly comparable with the figures in plate CXLIII, _b_, in
the same position, which are undoubtedly feathers, as has been shown
in the discussion of this figure. Consequently, although the triangles
on the pendant in plate CLIII, _a_, appear at first glance to have no
relation to the prescribed feather symbol, morphology shows their true
interpretation. The reduction of the wing feather to a simple
triangular figure is likewise shown in several other pictures on food
vessels, notably in the figure, undoubtedly of a bird, represented in
plate CXLVI, _a_.
In the two figures forming plate CLIV are found simple bird symbols
and feather designs very much conventionalized. The same is true of
the two figures given in plate CLV.
The vessels illustrated in plate CLVI, _a_, _b_, are decorated with
designs of unknown meaning, save that the latter recalls the
modification of the feather into long triangular forms. On the outer
surface this bowl has a row of tadpoles encircling it in a sinistral
direction, or with the center of the bowl on the left. The design of
figure _c_ shows a bird's head in profile, with a crest of feathers
and with the two eyes on one side of the head and a necklace. The
triangular figure bears the symbolism of the turkey feather, as at
present designated in Tusayan altar paraphernalia. As with other bird
figures, there is a representation in red of the triple star.
Figure _d_ is the only specimen of a vessel in the conventional form
of a bird which was found at Sikyatki; it evidently formerly had a
handle. The vessel itself is globular, and the form of the bird is
intensified by the designs on its surface. The bird's head is turned
to the observer, and the row of triangles represent wing feathers. The
signification of the designs on _e_ and _f_ is unknown to me.
Figures _e_ and _f_ of plate CLVI are avian decorations, reduced in
the case of the former to geometric forms. The triangular figure is a
marked feature in the latter design.
The designs represented in plate CLVII are aberrant bird forms. Of
these _a_ and _b_ are the simplest and _c_ one of the most
complicated. Figure _d_ is interpreted as a double bird, or twins with
a common head and tails pointing in opposite directions. Figure _e_
shows a bird in profile with one wing, furnished with triangular
feathers, extended. There is some doubt about the identification of
_f_ as a bird, but there is no question that the wing, tail, and
breath feathers are represented in it. Of the last mentioned there are
three, shown by the notch, colored black at their extremities.