ue. It is less carefully
executed, but seems to be a long-necked bird with a crest and outspread
wings curiously conventionalized. In the Nuttall Codex there is another
unmistakable heron (Pl. 15, fig. 4) with the same general
characteristics, though the crest is less prominent, here represented as
a series of erectile feathers separated at their tips. This elongation
of the crest seems to be carried still farther in what seems to be the
head and neck of a heron from Dresden 37b (Pl. 15, fig. 3) with erectile
feathers at intervals along its length.

The heron is seldom employed as a head-dress. In the Lower Chamber of
the Temple of the Tigers at Chichen Itza, one of the warriors wears a
bird head-dress (Pl. 15, fig. 2), which from the length of the bill is
probably made from a heron's head, though the crest seems greatly
exaggerated. The bas-relief on which this is found is strongly Nahua in
feeling and execution. This head covering may indicate, according to the
Nahua fashion, the tribe to which the warrior belongs. Again in Dresden
36a (Pl. 15, fig. 7), a man is shown wearing as a head-dress the head
and neck of a heron that holds in its bill a fish. This head resembles
very closely that of the heron in fig. 1. What appears to be a similar
head is shown in Pl. 15, fig. 6. It is interesting to note that the
heron with a fish (Pl. 15, fig. 5) from Palenque also forms a part of a
complicated head-dress.

It is, of course, uncertain to which of the several herons occurring in
Central America these representations refer. Possibly the Great Blue
heron (_Ardea herodias_) or the Louisiana heron (_Hydranassa tricolor
ruficollis_) is intended. It seems not unlikely also, that one of the
white egrets may be shown as their crests are fairly conspicuous.

FRIGATE-BIRD (_Fregata aquila_). We have included here two figures (Pl.
15, figs. 8, 9) that undoubtedly represent a single species of bird. It
is characterized by a deeply forked tail and long beak, which has part
way on its length, a circular object surrounded by a circle of dots. It
seems still problematical what this object may be. In one figure (fig.
9), the beak is strongly hooked, in the other (fig. 8) it is straight,
but as the latter is plainly a much more carelessly made drawing, we may
infer that the hooked bill is more nearly correct. This would exclude
the Terns (_Sterna_), to which Stempell has referred the figures. It
seems probable that the frigate-bird (_Fregat