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This is a clam mask. Red paint appears around the openings on the backside. Note the crescent-shaped eyes and double faces. A red furrow in which feathers were originally fastened circles the mask. The edge of the mask is the universe through which the creature sticks it head to look in on the human world.
Old Hamilton tells this story of a clam mask: "A woman married a polar bear thinking he was a human being. One day they went out to the sea in a skin boat when a storm overtook them. The boat was overturned and they both sunk to the sea bottom, where the woman and the bear turned into a clam shell.
Clams have no distinct head. However, they have a mouth on one end of their shell, and a foot on the other. Clams use this foot to move, it is also used to secrete a bundle of fibers, called a byssus. This byssus attaches the animal to a particular location like a rock. Clams also burrow wholly or partly into sand or mud by using this foot.
Clams have a pair of gills for feeding. They eat by taking up small particles from the water.
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