[Illustration: FRONT, SIDE AND BACK VIEWS OF SOAPSTONE BIRD, ZIMBABWE]
In 1902–3 the author unearthed the upper portion of the fractured bird (Pl. I., fig. 1), the lower portion of which was found on the Acropolis in 1890, together with a section of the beam upon which it once stood. The head, neck, and shoulders of this bird are 9½ in. long. Up the neck, front, and back is a carved protruding rib. This portion of the bird is in an extremely good state of preservation, and the carving shows more artistic skill than do any of the birds on beams in the Cape Town Museum.
In 1903 the author discovered the tenth carved soapstone bird on beam. This was found in Philips Ruins, the most interesting buildings outside the Acropolis and Elliptical Temple. The bird and beam, which are still intact, were found on the east side of a high and massive wall and at the south side of a small conical tower in the North-East Enclosure of these ruins, being buried in soil and block débris to a depth of 3 ft. It was upside down, with the base resting against the side of the cone, from the summit of which it most probably had fallen, as the cone, which is approached by two steps and a platform on its east side, was covered with granite cement, while the base of the beam bears marks of its having once stood embedded in granite cement. All the birds at Zimbabwe found standing, with one exception, had the bases of the beams fixed in excellent granite cement. This bird and beam are undoubtedly not only in the best state of preservation of any yet found at Zimbabwe, but show evidence of more artistic workmanship having been bestowed upon them than any of those previously discovered. Up the face of the beam is carved a crocodile 16 in. long, and round the _cestus_ beneath the bird’s feet, which is 3 in. deep, is carved work—on one side a large double row of chevron pattern, similar to the pattern on the east wall of the Elliptical Temple, and on the opposite side a single row of chevron, surmounted by two large embossed circular discs; the back edge of the beam is plain, and the front edge above the crocodile has two small embossed circular discs. The bird stands 11 in. high, the total height of the beam and bird being 5 ft. 5 in., its width 8 in. on the flat sides, and 2½ in. on its end edges.