Long hair ornaments of this sort were used by a number of Plains military societies (Arikara Cut Hairs, Crow, Gros-Ventre, Hidatsa Little Dogs, Mandan) and some other Transmontane tribes for hair decoration. The presence of such an ornament meant that its owner was a valiant warrior who had defeated the enemy by cutting his throat. Such an ornament was worn not as a tribute to fashion, but as a badge of distinction, which had yet to be earned in a deadly battle with a worthy opponent. The ornament consists of three main parts: (i) a wooden tapered pin decorated with small feathers; (ii) a bow-tie and (iii) a long drop. Bow-tie portion is made of a buffalo parflesh (rawhide) slipped through a copper or brass tube and beaded with glass beads and dentallia. On the drop portion, dentalia, braintan hide, real sines and ermine tails may be used. A little braid is slipped down through the brass tube, and then the tube should be slided all the way up the braid and the pin sticked down in the top.