ted
as a sort of crest or comb. Pl. 18, fig. 22, is interesting as being the
only case in the Maya codices where the whole figure is shown in the
glyph. As noted in the case of the glyphs of the king vulture, the
greater number of these occur quite alone. They seem to indicate that a
full drawing of the bird is meant to be understood as occurring below.

Several of the carved glyphs (Pl. 19, figs. 8-10) show the black vulture
heads in some detail with the conspicuously open nostril and hooked
beak. A carving of the entire bird may be shown on Stela D from Copan
(Pl. 28, fig. 5), where the naked head and neck are marked off by lines
indicating wrinkled skin. The same lines on the neck of the bird
depicted on Pl. 28, fig. 2, will probably identify it as a vulture, and,
if the square ornament above the beak certainly is part of the figure,
it is unquestionably the king vulture. The knob is not, however, clearly
on the bird's beak. There are two interesting glyphs which occur on the
eastern facade of the Monjas at Chichen Itza. The glyphs in this
inscription are unlike the usual Maya hieroglyphs, although several of
the so-called constellation signs can be made out. The two glyphs in
question represent the entire body possibly of a vulture, that on Pl.
17, fig. 13, probably the king vulture, and that on Pl. 18, fig. 14, the
black vulture.

HARPY EAGLE (_Thrasaetos harpyia_). In the Nuttall Codex, what is
undoubtedly the harpy eagle is of frequent occurrence. This great bird
is not uncommon in the forests of southern Mexico and Central America,
and must have attracted the notice of the people from its size. The
elongated feathers at the back of the head form a conspicuous crest, a
feature that characterizes this species in most of the representations.
A stone carving from Chichen Itza (Pl. 20, fig. 10) pictures a harpy
eagle eating an egg-shaped object, and another similarly engaged is
copied from the Codex Vaticanus 3773 (Pl. 20, fig. 14). The former is
considered to be a vulture by Maudslay, but the presence of feathers
covering the head excludes this interpretation. In two stone glyphs (Pl.
20, fig. 1, 3), occurs a large bird apparently devouring something held
in its talons, as in Pl. 20, fig. 10. From this general resemblance, it
seems probable that both represent the harpy, although no crests are
shown on the glyphs. In the Dresden and the Tro-Cortesianus occur a few
figures of crested birds that probably are the same