7c, 28c, in the rites
of the four years, is described in full by Landa. In the codex, a priest
is represented as holding in his hand before an altar, a headless bird.
Landa (1864, pp. 212, 218, 224, 228)[327-[+]] tells us that in the
_Kan_, the _Muluc_, the _Ix_, and the _Cauac_ years, the priests burnt
incense to the idol, decapitated a "_gallina_" (undoubtedly a turkey),
and presented it to the god.

The turkey is also used as a head-dress. Only in one case, however,
Tro-Cortesianus 95c (Pl. 16, fig. 5), is the whole bird represented in
this connection. This is clearly of totemic significance here, as it
occurs in that part of the codex where birth and infant baptism are
shown. In many other places there are curious partial representations of
bird heads in the front of head-dresses which may or may not be
identified as heads of turkeys. Among these are the head-dress of god H
in Dresden 7c, of god E in Dresden 11e, of god C in Dresden 13b, of god
A in Dresden 23c, and a female divinity in Dresden 20a (Pl. 16, fig.
13). Schellhas (1904, p. 43) identifies these birds as vultures.

That the turkey is connected with the rain seems clear. This is
especially the case among the Nahuas. In the Aubin manuscript the rain
god, _Tlaloc_, often appears in the disguise of the turkey-cock
(_uexolotl_), and in the Vaticanus 3773, 14, the turkey (Pl. 16, fig. 7)
is represented in the "House of Rain," in contrast to the owl shown in
the "House of Drought" (Seler, 1902-1903, p. 75). It might be noted also
that Fewkes (1892, p. 228) shows that the turkey is emblematic of the
rain among the pueblo peoples. The same idea seems to be present among
the Mayas, as we note in the Tro-Cortesianus 10b (Pl. 16, fig. 2) the
turkey is pictured in the rain and surrounded on three sides by bands of
constellation signs.

Two methods of capturing the turkey are shown in the Tro-Cortesianus 93a
and 91a (Pl. 16, figs. 1, 3). By the first, the bird is captured alive
in a sort of wicker basket, which drops over it at the proper moment.
The second method is by the "twich-up" or snare, which consists of a
noose tied to a bent sapling and properly baited. In connection with Pl.
16, fig. 1, it may be suggested that possibly this represents a cage
rather than a trap, in which the bird is confined. The Lacandones at the
present time often keep their totem animals in captivity (Tozzer, 1907,
p. 40).

KING VULTURE (_Sarcorhamphus papa_). Numerous figures of vul