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This is a wooden bird with a
human face. A man bought this figure in 1883. He recorded:
"this image probably represented the spirit of an ancestor.
During the feast for the Dead, the bird was lowered from the
roof of the qasgiq by a rope as soon as a new guest entered
through the opening located in the middle of the floor as if
to greet the new guest."(1994)
In 1993 Mary Mike told this story of a
bird mask: "He also presented a little ocean-bird mask,
representing a bird they say liked to land on ice pile-ups
on the ocean and sing. I can't remember the name of the
bird. . . Anyway Quscuar said that when he was out seal
hunting he woke up one morning and heard a bird singing
outside, telling him to go up on land because it was going
to get stormy on the ocean. Being curious about what kind of
bird it was, he looked out from among the ice pile-ups where
they were sleeping, and he saw that it was a cute little
bird that had been talking. Then when he said, "Please fly
in the direction from which the wind will be blowing,' it
flew away toward the south. He believed what the little bird
had said and told the others that a storm was likely to
come.
 A loon is a bird that lives near
water. Loons live in Alaska during the spring, summer and
fall, they migrate to the Gulf of Mexico for winter. During
the summer the loon's back is black with a green or blue
sheen. Loons are gray in the winter.
A loon is a diving bird with sharp bills
and heavy bodies. They are about 28 to 36 inches long. They
have short legs and are unable to walk on land. Loons place
their nests near the shores of lakes, marshes or swamps,
where they can slide easily into the water.
Loons eat mostly fish. They are excellent
divers. They dive under the water's surface to capture fish.
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