THE OOLOGIST 



MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY AND 

 FRIENDS: 



The religious belief of the American 

 Indian did not permit ruthless slaugh- 

 ter of animals or birds. Indians would 

 not destroy life unless their food, 

 clothing or ceremonial requirements 

 made such a course necessary. Ruth- 

 less slaughter was unheard of and so- 

 cieties for the protection of bird life 

 were unnecessary. 



How was this doctrine inculcated in 

 the young? Indian folk-lore furnishes 

 many stories which were told with 

 the obvious purpose of influencing the 

 young Indian braves to refrain from 

 the ruthless slaughter of birds. A 

 Winnebago story which illustrates my 

 statement is as follows: 



"Once, long ago, when the Winne- 

 bagoes were all living in Wisconsin, a 

 young brave, member of the tribe, took 

 to fasting, as they were all encouraged 

 to do in those days, that he might re- 

 ceive a blessing from some spirit. 

 Finally this man was blessed by the 

 Bird Manitou, and empowered to kill all 

 the ducks and geese he wished. After 

 a time, early one spring, while anxious- 

 ly waiting for the geese and ducks to 

 arrive, he began to make remarks, 

 saying that he was hungry for fowls 

 and wished that the ducks and geese 

 would come that he might have his 

 fill of them. Again, one day, he said: 

 'I am getting so hungry for ducks that, 

 as soon as they come, I will kill a lot 

 of them and bathe in duck's grease be- 

 fore I eat any.' 



Finally the geese and ducks began 

 to arrive from the south and in a day 

 or two the very heavens were black 

 with them. It was then that this 

 young man took his bow and arrows 

 and went to a favored spot to shoot 

 ducks. Although they were so thick 



they seemed to be everywhere, still 

 he was unable to ki'ii any; so thus he 

 sat all day long, going home in the 

 evening without a single duck or 

 goose. 



For four days he had the same poor 

 luck. On the evening of the fourth 

 day, thinking that the Bird Manitou 

 had forgotten his blessing to him, h'e 

 began to sing thus: 'It is I, it is I.' 

 And even while he was singing, nb 

 thought he heard something. He 

 listened and a'way in the distance, ap- 

 peared a flock of geese flying in a V 

 formation and the leader of the flock 

 was singing the same song that he 

 sang: 'It is I, it is I, the blue above 

 ray body is. It is I ' Meaning that his 

 body was like the blue sky. So thus 

 he sang and the flock came towards 

 the man, on and on, until they were 

 only a few feet above him, when the 

 Indian took up his bow and arrow 

 and shot at the goose, saying: 'We will 

 see whether it is you or not ' But his 

 arrow went through space into the air, 

 and he went home without any gatne. 



That night the spirits came and took 

 him, in the spirit, to the upper regions, 

 to the home of the Bird Manitou. 

 There he was reprimanded for the 

 way he had talked about them — of 

 how he had said that he would batho 

 in their grease, etc. They told him 

 that they had blessed him with them- 

 selves to be used as food when he 

 needed it, but not to waste or play 

 with, and with this advice, he was 

 sent home, after being told to be care- 

 ful how he talked, in the future. 



The next morning he went out 

 early, and in a short time, he brought 

 home all the birds he needed as food." 



Dr. Gilmore tells the story of the 

 Omaha Indian children who found a 

 fledging meadowlark, not yet able to 

 fly. They took the bird to their 

 father who told them something of its 

 life and habits, its nesting and home 



