Mound-Builders, as has been well pointed out by Wilson,
in his Prehistoric Man, is the tendency exhibited toward the imitation
of natural objects, especially birds and animals, a remark, it may be
said in passing, which applies with almost equal truth to the art
productions generally of the present Indians throughout the length and
breadth of North America. As some of these sculptured animals from the
mounds have excited much interest in the minds of archaeologists, and
have been made the basis of much speculation, their examination and
proper identification becomes a matter of considerable importance. It
will therefore be the main purpose of the present paper to examine
critically the evidence offered in behalf of the identification of the
more important of them. If it shall prove, as is believed to be the
case, that serious mistakes of identification have been made, attention
will be called to these and the manner pointed out in which certain
theories have naturally enough resulted from the premises thus
erroneously established.

It may be premised that the writer undertook the examination of the
carvings with no theories of his own to propose in place of those
hitherto advanced. In fact, their critical examination may almost be
said to have been the result of accident. Having made the birds of the
United States his study for several years, the writer glanced over the
bird carvings in the most cursory manner, being curious to see what
species were represented. The inaccurate identification of some of these
by the authors of "The Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley" led
to the examination of the series as a whole, and subsequently to the
discussion they had received at the hands of various authors. The
carvings are, therefore, here considered rather from the stand-point of
the naturalist than the archaeologist. Believing that the question first
in importance concerns their actual resemblances, substantially the same
kind of critical study is applied to them which they would receive were
they from the hands of a modern zoological artist. Such a course has
obvious disadvantages, since it places the work of men who were in, at
best, but a semi-civilized condition on a much higher plane than other
facts would seem to justify. It may be urged, as the writer indeed
believes, that the accuracy sufficient for the specific identification
of these carvings is not to be expected of men in the state of culture
the Mound-B