The artist added the decorative band at the base of the sculpture to the model in the late teens. The interior of this cast retains much of the original white mold material that was poured as a semi-liquid into the wax model to fill up the inside (the core). After this hardened, it was heated to melt out the wax so that the empty mold could be filled with molten metal. The rods visible inside this cast are remnants of the circulation system that allowed the metal to flow into all parts of the mold. This cast is unusual to retain this much investment and the circulation system, normally removed at the foundry after casting. Compare the bonnet feathers to those on the other cast of Black Bird (0827.126).

From the exhibition:Frontier to Foundry: the Making of Small Bronze Sculpture in the Gilcrease Collection, December 2014 - March 2015.
Ann Boulton Young, Associate Conservator for the Gilcrease Museum, 2014.