. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. 450 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, tliey have oeen cut on only one side of the edge. The purpose of these notches is entirely unknown; they might have been utilitarian or orna- mental, but in our i^resent state of knowledge no one is justified in saying which. They are submitted as possible ornamentation. The third specimen represents one of these objects in which the drilling has just been completed, when the object split longitudinally
. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. 450 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, tliey have oeen cut on only one side of the edge. The purpose of these notches is entirely unknown; they might have been utilitarian or orna- mental, but in our i^resent state of knowledge no one is justified in saying which. They are submitted as possible ornamentation. The third specimen represents one of these objects in which the drilling has just been completed, when the object split longitudinally. It is pre- sented to show ^.he drilling with all its interior ridges before being smoothed, and one may see by the failure to complete the hole how the drilling had all been done from one end. Bird-shaped ob- jects.—Fig. 105 is from western New York. It is made in the form of a bird, which from the number of similar specimens have given the nameto this class. The eyes are rep- resented by great protnberances which must have greatly increased the difficulty of manufacture. It was made from a bowlder or large jiiece, and while the material is hard, it is not tough but rather fragile. It could not be chipped like flint nor whittled like soapstone, but must have been hammered or pecked into shape and afterwards ground to its present form, then polished until it is as smooth as glass. A con- sideration of the conditions demonstrates the difficulty of making this object and the dexterity and experienced working required. 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 representing any animal. Boatsliaped objects.—Fig. lOG represents a boat-shaped object, so call
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