The color of the bird and the very long tail feathers have already been mentioned, and these explain the reason of the importance of this bird among the Mayas. It is claimed by several old authorities that the quetzal was reserved for the rulers, and that it was death for any common person to kill this bird for his own use. It seems from a statement in Landa (1864, p. 190)[341-*] that birds were domesticated for the feathers. This bird occurs again and again in various modifications throughout the Maya art. The feathers of the quetzal are the ones usually associated with the serpent, making the rebus, _Quetzalcoatl_, the feathered serpent, the culture hero of the Nahuas, or _Kukulcan_, which has the same signification among the Mayas. It is impossible to mention here all the various connections in which the quetzal appears. The feathers play an important part in the composition of the head-dresses of the priests and warriors, especially those in the stone carvings. A quotation has already been given from Landa, showing the use made of feathers in the dress of the people. Text fig. 7 shows perhaps the most elaborate representation of this bird. It is found on the sculptured tablet of the Temple of the Cross at Palenque. The quetzal is shown seated on top of a branching tree which was long taken to represent a cross. A similar representation is seen on the tablet of the Temple of the Foliated Cross from the same ruined city. In the Codex Fejervary-Mayer, there are four trees in each of which there is a bird. A quetzal is perched in the one corresponding to the east, which is regarded as the region of opulence and moisture. Seler (1901, p. 17) suggests that the quetzal in the tree on the two bas-reliefs at Palenque may represent a similar idea and that temples which would show the other three trees and their respective birds had not been built in that center. The representation of the quetzal as an entire bird is, after all, comparatively rare. The most realistic drawing is seen on a jar from Copan in the collections of the Peabody Museum. The whole body of the bird is shown as a head-dress in a few places in the codices where birth and the naming of children are pictured. In Dresden 16c (Pl. 24, fig. 3) and Tro-Cortesianus 94c (Pl. 24, fig. 6), the quetzal is the head-dress of women. In Dresden 13b (Pl. 24, fig. 2), a partial drawing of the bird is shown as a part of the head-dress of god E, in Dresden 7c (Pl. 24, fig. 1) of god H, and in Tro-Cortesianus 110c of god F. The feathers alone appear as a female head decoration in Dresden 20c (Pl. 24, fig. 8). It occurs as a sacrifice among the rites of the four years in Tro-Cortesianus 36b (Pl. 24, fig. 12). In Tro-Cortesianus 70a (Pl. 24, fig. 5), it is found in the act of eating fruit growing over the "young god." In Tro-Cortesianus 100b (Pl. 24, fig. 4), the bird is perched over the encased head of god C.