THE HAWK

References:

Plate 4, Figure 1. Chief Ske-dans' Mortuary Pole. Haida.
Plate 10, Figure 6. Carved Symbol on Food Dish. Haida.

On Plate 4, Figure 1 the Hawk is shown Superimposed on the
Moon Crest on the Skedans Memorial Pole and offers a good example
of the conventional symbols associated with this mythical bird,
namely (1) an enormous hooked beak curved backwards so that its
Slender tip touches.the chin; (2) the head of the bird being re-
placed by the face of a humann which the nose is either prolonged
into the characteristic beak or entirely replaced thereby. In
some cases the beak is drawn back between the lips of a human
mouth or carried over the lips into the chin or possibly the mouth
is shown entirely distinct from the beak and has the form of the
toothed mouth of a mammal.

Variations in detail in representation are found among the
other tribes, the Kwakiutl for example: The beak symbol, however
is usually present though in highly conventionalized Haida designs
a wedge-shaped outline is recognized as indicating this bird.
Figure 3 on the same plate shows at the base of an Inside House
Pole a very bold carving of the Mountain Hawk holding a whale in
its talons.

The Hawk appears among the crests of both the Haida and
Tsimsyan tribes. In some cases the Hawk is considered identical
with the Thunderbird, both inhabiting high mountainous districts.