to it the name current in modern Tusayan
folklore. This fragment is shown in figure 275.

[Illustration: FIG. 275--Kwataka eating an animal]

According to modern folklore there once lived in the sky a winged
being called Kwataka, or Man-eagle, who sorely troubled the ancients.
He was ultimately slain by their War god, the legends of which have
elsewhere been published. There is a pictograph of this monster near
Walpi,[148] and pictures of him, as he exists in modern conceptions,
have been drawn for me by the priests. These agree so closely with the
pictograph and with the representation on the potsherd from Sikyatki,
that I regard it well-nigh proven that they represent the same
personage. The head is round and bears two feathers, while the star
emblem appears in the eye. The wing and the stump of a tail are well
represented, while the leg has three talons, which can only be those
of this monster. He holds in his grasp some animal form which he is
represented as eating. Across the body is a kilt, or ancient blanket,
with four diagonal figures which are said to represent flint
arrowheads. It is a remarkable fact that these latter symbols are
practically the same as those used by Nahuatl people for obsidian
arrow- or spearpoints. In Hopi lore Kwataka wore a garment of
arrowpoints, or, according to some legends, a flint garment, and his
wings are said to have been composed of feathers of the same
material.

[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. CXLVI

BOWLS AND POTSHERD WITH FIGURES OF BIRDS FROM SIKYATKI]

[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. CXLVII

FOOD BOWLS WITH FIGURES OF BIRDS, FROM SIKYATKI]

From the pose of the figure and the various details of its symbolism
there can be little doubt that the ancient Sikyatki artists intended
to represent this monster, of which the modern Hopi rarely speak, and
then only in awe. Probably several other bird figures likewise
represent Kwataka, but in none of these do the symbols conform so
closely to legends of this monster which are still repeated in the
Tusayan villages. The home of Kwataka is reputed to be in the sky, and
consequently figures of him are commonly associated with star and
cloud emblems; he is a god of luck or chance, hence it is not
exceptional to find figures of gaming implements[149] in certain
elaborate figures of this monster.

By far the most beautiful of the many food bow