Since his time no one has paid so much attention to the effigies as Stephen D. Peet, editor of the American Antiquarian, whose articles have during this year been presented in book form.  Mr. Peet has paid much attention to the kind of animals represented, and has, it seems to us, more nearly solved the question than any one else.  He recognizes four classes of animals—­land animals or quadruped mammals, always shown in profile; amphibians, always shown as sprawling, with all four feet represented; birds, recognized by their wings; and fishes, characterized by the absence of limbs of any kind.  The land animals are subdivided into horned grazers and fur bearers.  Of the many species he claims to find, it seems to us the most satisfactorily identified are the buffalo, moose, deer, or elk; the panther, bear, fox, wolf and squirrel; the lizard and turtle; the eagle, hawk, owl, goose and crane; and fishes.  One or two man mounds are known, although most of those so-called are bird mounds—­either the hawk or the owl.  Sometimes, too, “composite mounds” are found.  Nor are these mounds all that are found.  Occasionally the same forms are found in intaglio, cut into the ground instead of being built above it, but just as carefully and artistically made.  Notice, in addition to the form of these strange earth works, that they are so skillfully done that the attitude frequently suggests action or mood.  Nor are they placed at random, but are more or less in harmony with their surroundings.  Remember, too, their great number and their large size—­a man 214 feet long, a beast 160 feet long, with a tail measuring 320 feet, a hawk 240 feet in expanse of wing.

They are unique.  To be sure, there are in Ohio three effigies, in Georgia two, and in Dakota some bowlder mosaics in animal form.  None of these, however, are like the Wisconsin type.  The alligator and serpent of Ohio are different in location and structure from the Wisconsin mounds, and are of designs peculiar.  The bird mound in the Newark circle is more like a Wisconsin effigy, but is associated with a type of works not found in the effigy region.  The birds of Georgia are different in conception, in material, and in build.  The mosaics of Dakota are simply outlines of loose bowlders.

It seems to us that the effigy builders of Wisconsin were a peculiar tribe, unlike their mound-building neighbors in Ohio or the South; that they were a people with a passion for representing animal figures.  This passion worked itself out in these earth structures.  That a single tribe should be thus isolated in so remarkable a custom is no more strange than that the Haida should carve slate or the Bushman draw his pictures on his cavern walls.

Who were the effigy builders?  This is a question often asked and variously answered.  Some writers would refer them to the Winnebagoes, or, if not to them directly, to some Dakota stock from which the Winnebagoes have descended.