A FLOCK OF MYTHOLOGICAL CROWS. 49 



"The Egyptians reverence the hawk as sacred to Apollo, whom they 

 name, in their language, Horus." * 



And again, quoting from the same authority : " The crow also was 

 sacred to Apollo, or Horus. In the neighborhood of Coptos only two 

 individual birds of this species were to be seen, which belonged to the 

 temple of Apollo." f 



Coming now to the rude and primitive mythology of the red race 

 of America, we find here also several tribes by which these birds were 

 held sacred. And curiously enough, in the Algonquin myth of the 

 deluge, we find both the raven and the wolf as attendants on Messon, 

 the Great Spirit. Brinton quotes it from Father Le June as follows : 

 " One day as Messon was hunting, the wolves which he used as dogs 

 entered a great lake and were detained there. Messon, looking for 

 them everywhere, a bird said to him, * I see them in the middle of this 

 lake.' He entered the lake to rescue them, but the lake overflowing its 

 banks, covered the land and destroyed the world. Messon, very much 

 astonished at this, sent out the raven to find a piece of earth wherewith 

 to rebuild the land, but the bird could find none ; then he ordered the 

 otter to dive for some, but the animal returned empty ; at last he sent 

 down the muskrat, who came back with ever so small a piece, which, 

 however, was enough for Messon to form the land on which we are. 

 The trees having lost their branches, he shot arrows at their naked 

 trunks, which became their limbs, revenged himself on those who had 

 detained his wolves, and, having married the muskrat, by it peopled 

 the world." | 



In the Athapascan myth of the creation, the creative power takes 

 the form of the raven. Brinton, quoting from McKenzie's " History 

 of the Fur Trade," says : " With singular unanimity, most of the 

 Northwest branches of this stock trace their descent from a raven, 

 a mighty bird whose eyes were fire, whose glances were lightning, 

 and the clapping of whose wings was thunder. On his descent to 

 the ocean the earth instantly rose and remained on the surface of 

 the water. This omnipotent bird then called forth all the variety of 

 animals." 



And again : " A raven, also, in the Athapascan myth, saved their 

 ancestors from the general flood, and in this instance it is distinctly 

 identified with the mighty Thunder Bird, who, at the beginning, 

 ordered the earth from the depths. Prometheus-like, it brought fire 

 from heaven, and saved them from a second death by cold." || 



A poetical description of this mythical bird has been given by 

 Mr. Shelling, and is preserved in Griswold's collection of American 

 poetry. We have room, however, for only a few lines of the 

 poem : 



* Pritchard, " Egyptian Mythology," p. 317. \ Pritchard, op. cit, p. 819. 



X Brinton, " Mji,hs of the New "World," p. 225. Brinton, op. cit., p. 211. 



II Brinton, op. cit., p. 220. 

 TOL. XVIII. 4 



