Mythical birds in the mythology of the Ainu and the indigenous peoples of the Amur and Sakhalin

In the oral literature of the Ainu, one can find several images of mythological birds that differ in their physiology from those met in nature. There are three of them in Ainu mythology - kesorap, khuri and toipuk-un-chiri. The article attempts to comprehend this phenomenon of Ainu mythology by studying the ways by which these mythological birds entered the folklore of the Ainu and the functions they perform, as well as by comparing their images with similar images of birds in the oral literature of the Tungusic peoples and the Nivkhs of the Amur and Sakhalin.