SWANTON: CATAWBA NOTES 629 



various animals and other living creatures which she encoun- 

 tered, one after the other, if they could tell her anything of her 

 child, but in vain. At last, however, she came to the giant red- 

 headed woodpecker (watcak) who said that he knew and would 

 inform her if she would give him a pair of earrings. She agreed 

 and the bird said that the child had been stolen by an old woman, 

 the owl, who had carried it far north to the other side of the 

 Cherokee mountains. Upon hearing this the woman gave the 

 bird her earrings and continued on to the place indicated. After 

 she had recovered her child, the old woman who had stolen it 

 began to rise from the ground, and as she ascended her bird 

 tail grew longer and longer, and finally she became the comet. 



Two principal dances, possibly vestigial ceremonies, are re- 

 membered, the Bear dance and the Wild Goose dance. Orig- 

 inally they took place out of doors, near the full of the moon, the 

 former about roasting-ear time, the latter in the fall. In the 

 later period of dechne they were held indoors in winter. A drum 

 was used, and the men carried gourd rattles, while the women 

 had turtle-shell rattles fastened to their ankles in the familiar 

 southeastern manner. The participants imitated bear and wild 

 geese as well as they were able, the leaders being chosen in par- 

 ticular for their skill in representing the parts. Besides these 

 there is said to have been a black snake dance. 



