ventional representation of
something the Maya name of which is _ik_ or that has substantially this
phonetic value. The form of the Mexican symbol, as above indicated,
shows that in selecting it reference was had to the bird bill, to which
possibly may have been added the idea of blowing forcibly from the
mouth, a common method of indicating wind. (See for example the
bird-mouth female, Tro. 25b, where the _Ik_ symbol is present.) But it
seems impossible to find in the symbol any reference to the bird, bird
bill, or the act of blowing, or in fact anything indicating, even by a
conventionalized figure, wind, air, spirit, or breath. Hence it is
reasonable to conclude that it has been selected only because of the
resemblance in sound of the thing it represents to the name _Ik_. I
would be inclined to believe that the most usual form is the
representation of a tooth or two teeth, the name being used for its
phonetic value only, but for the very troublesome fact that I can find
no name for tooth in Maya to sustain this view. If we could suppose it
to be a conventionalized ideogram of an insect, we would obtain the
desired sound, as Perez explains _ikel_ by "bicho, insecto, polilla,
gorgojo." It must, however, be confessed that none of these suggestions
are satisfactory.

The following additional references to the bird as a symbol of the wind
are appropriate at this point.

Not only is the day _Ehecatl_ represented in the Mexican codices by a
bird's head, but we see a bird perched upon a tree at each of the
cardinal points on plate 44 of the Fejervary Codex. Birds are also
perched on three of the four trees representing the cardinal points on
plate 65 of the Vatican Codex.

In speaking of the myths of the Muyscas, Dr Brinton[220-1] says:

In the cosmogonical myths of the Muyscas, this [alluding to a
certain name] was the home or source of light, and was a name
applied to the demiurgic force. In that mysterious dwelling, so
their account ran, light was shut up and the world lay in primeval
gloom. At a certain time the light manifested itself, and the dawn
of the first morning appeared, the light being carried to the four
quarters of the earth by great black birds, who blew the air and
winds from their beaks.

The Javanese also assigned a bird to each of the cardinal points,
doubtless with substantially the same mythological concept.

Commenting on a passage of the Popol Vuh, in wh