The Cherokees had an interesting story about the wren, always a busybody. She gets up early in the morning, they say, pries into everything, and goes around to every lodge in the settlement to get news for the birds’ council. When a new baby is born she finds out whether it is a boy or […]
Tag: north america
Bird stories, Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos)
Among the Dakotah Indians there is a deluge legend to the effect that when the flood came, all the Indians, hoping to escape, fled to a hilltop, but were finally overwhelmed, all but one woman, who was borne away by a great eagle, her father swooping down, and carried to a high mountain. She afterward […]
Bird stories, Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo)
The Seminoles have a story about the Turkey, who was once the king of the birds and flew high in the air like the eagle. He would swoop down on the council ground and bear away a man. Then people devised a plan to catch him. Four men were to roll four big balls along […]
Bird stories, Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)
A person went hunting and made a camp. While he was sitting by it a Horned Owl and a Hawk. came flying thither. The Hawk came on without stopping and settled between the man’s knees. The Horned Owl came and perched on the other side of the fire. He kept saying, “Throw that one over […]
Bird stories, Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)
Big Man-eater had a wife but stole another woman and carried her to the place where his wife lived. Next day he started off. After he had traveled about hunting for a while he came back without having killed anything. Then he said to his wife, “Cut off a piece of your body and roast […]
Bird stories, Eastern Whip-poor-will (Antrostomus vociferus)
The Omahas and other Siouan Indians used to say that when whippoorwills sing at night, saying “Hoia, hohin?” one replies “No.” If the birds stop at once, it is a sign that the answerer will soon die, but if the birds keep on calling he or she will live a long time. The Utes of […]
Bird stories, Eastern Screech Owl (Megascops asio)
The Sahaptin tribe of Washington State tell the story of the children and the Owl. Once upon a time there were a man and a woman who had two children, a boy and a girl. One day the woman came home quite late. She was very thirsty, and asked the children to get her some […]
Bird stories, Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna)
All the Mewan tribes, and many belonging to widely different stocks-including even the Washoo of Lake Tahoe and adjacent valleys east of the Sierra, class the Meadowlark among the bad birds. They say he talks too much and is a gossip and they do not like him. The Washoo call him Se-soo-te-ai-le and, like several […]
Bird stories, Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)
The Kwakiutl coastal Indians of British Columbia say the birds did not select their own costumes, but that one of their ancestors painted all the birds he found at a certain place. When he reached the cormorant his colors were exhausted and he had only charcoal left, hence the cormorant is wholly black. A favorite […]
Bird stories, Carrion Crow (Corvus corone)
A Pawnee woman and her two cildren were in the woods. She was cutting boughs while her children were playing. The children were disobedient and wandered in to the woods. The woman started looking for her children. By the fresh water she saw a beaver and asked him if he saw her children. The beaver […]