resemblance borne by this carving to the paroquet. Yet the bird thus
positively identified as a paroquet, upon which identification have,
without doubt, been based all the conclusions that have been published
concerning the presence of that bird among the mound sculptures is not
even distantly related to the parrot family. It has the bill of a
raptorial bird, as shown by the distinct tooth, and this, in connection
with the well defined cere, not present in the paroquet, and the open
nostril, concealed by feathers in the paroquet, places its identity as
one of the hawk tribe beyond doubt.

[Illustration: Fig. 19.--Paroquet of Squier and Davis.]

In fact it closely resembles several of the carvings figured and
identified as hawks by the above authors, as comparison with figures
given below will show. The hawks always appear to have occupied a
prominent place in the interest of our North American Indians,
especially in association with totemic ideas, and the number of
sculptured representations of hawks among the mound relics would argue
for them a similar position in the minds of the Mound-Builders.

A word should be added as to the distribution of the paroquet. The
statement by Squier and Davis that the paroquet is found as far north as
the Ohio River would of itself afford an easy explanation of the manner
in which the Mound-Builders might have become acquainted with the bird,
could their acquaintance with it be proved. But the above authors appear
to have had a very incorrect idea of the region inhabited by this once
widely spread species. The present distribution, it is true, is
decidedly southern, it being almost wholly confined to limited areas
within the Gulf States. Formerly, however, it ranged much farther north,
and there is positive evidence that it occurred in New York,