Quilt Notes: Triangles of this type are consistently used as abstractions for birds in quilt designs (compare with BIRDS IN THE AIR or MIGRATION SOUTH, for instance). They are often connected tip to base as here, either filling a square, or in long cascades. This version of RETURNING BIRDS with alternating dark and light triangles, also called RETURN OF THE SWALLOWS, is illustrated in Rhoda Ochser Goldberg's QUILTING AND PATCHWORK DICTIONARY, 1988.

A simpler two-color dark on light version was reproduced in the Kansas City Star in 1946, according to Barbara Brackman's ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PIECED QUILT PATTERNS (#1340). The effectiveness of the block as uniquely a "return" is accomplished by not circling the triangles, but rather the motion is stopped and reversed. With just a few triangles, a beautifully meaningful abstraction.

For more geometric quilt designs depicting birds see:
DARTING BIRD(S)
SWALLOWS ON A STAR
and TAKING WING.