In 1903 my grandparents, Elizabeth and Frederick Neidlinger, went to the Afton Fair and brought home a bird as a souvenir. It has the date beaded under its tail. The sellers probably traveled by train from the St. Lawrence Valley to the Susquehanna Valley to sell their artwork. A Mohawk bird's wings are lower. Both types of birds often carry one or two balls, usually red, hanging from their beaks.
Some people say the balls represent cherries.
The earliest souvenir beaded canoes are from the 1890s. They often have words beaded on their sides. They often have a beaded date also. Ethel Zomont, Louise Henry or her mother Harriet Pembleton, and Mary Lou Printup. The one on the right I purchased when both the maker and I were teenagers and staying at the Fair.