THE OOLOGIST 



life, of its love of freedom, and its 

 place in the world, under the wise 

 plans of the Master of Life. 



He brought the children to see the 

 unhappiness and terror which they 

 had unwittingly brought upon the cap- 

 tive, and the anxiety the mother would 

 feel over its loss. Then he said to the 

 children: "Now children, take the 

 little bird back to the place where you 

 found it, and set it down in the grass, 

 and say: O, Master of Life, here is 

 thy little bird which we have set free 

 again. We are sorry that we took it 

 away from its home and people. Wo 

 did not think of the sorrow thai we 

 should cause. We wish to restore it 

 and have it happy again with its 

 people. May we be forgiven for our 

 thoughtlessness and we will not do 

 such wrong again." 



Indian children were also taught by 

 their parents to be not wasteful and 

 destructive of wild flowers, and that 

 they should not pluck them. They 

 were told that if they did so, they 

 wculd thus destroy the flower babies 

 and the flower nations would then be 

 exterminated. 



Indians dread the consequences ot 

 interfering with the nice balance of 

 nature. Dr. Gilmore tells me that most 

 white men cannot comprehend the 

 sense of pain experienced by Indians 

 at seeing the native forms of life in 

 America ruthlessly and wantonly des- 

 troyed, with no compunction on the 

 part of the destroyers. And this des- 

 truction of the forms of native life by 

 white people gave lo the Indians a 

 sense of a fearful void in nature, 

 coupled with a feeling of grief, of 

 horror, of distress and pain. 



The Winnebagoes and most of the 

 members of other tribes of Indians al- 

 ways allude to the birds as "Those 

 with wings" or "The people with 

 wings," and they regard them as re- 

 lated to the great thunder people who 



exist and move in the air and heavens. 

 In sacred rites the thunders and the 

 birds are addressed as "The people of 

 above" or "Those of above." By the 

 Indians all creatures aTe spoken of as 

 intimate friends. 



At the present time the Indians use 

 for food practically the same birds as 

 the Whites, with the addition of black- 

 birds and occasionally robins Among 

 the Winnebagoes it has always been 

 customary for the parents and rela- 

 tives, regardless of species, to eat the 

 first bird killed by a youth with his 

 bow and arrow. No matter how 

 small, the bird is accepted by the par- 

 ents with thanks and prayer to the 

 Creator that blessings be granted the 

 youth who is to follow the occupation 

 of hunter. 



The bird which occupies the highest 

 position of respect with the Indians is 

 the mythical bird whose existence is 

 believed in by all Indians, called the 

 Thunderbird, a creature who causes 

 the thunder by flapping his wings, and 

 the lightning by opening and shutting 

 his eyes. By some Indians, a heavy 

 downpour of rain was accounted for by 

 supposing that the bird carried a lake 

 upon his back. Some thought there 

 were several Thunderbirds. The 

 Winnebagoes believe that the various 

 clans once met to form a tribe, and 

 that the Thunder beings, whom the 

 Creator made, were invited to send 

 representatives. So, after taking 

 human form, two of the higher class 

 and two of the lower class of Thun- 

 ders, got ready and came down towards 

 the earth, headed for the old home of 

 the Winnebagoes around Green Bay, 

 Wisconsin. They came through a 

 mist; therefore, one of them said: 

 "The flrst daughter I have born to me 

 shall be called the Mist Woman." 



They formed the various clans. The 

 members of the thunder clan are the 

 rulers, the bear clan the warriors, and 



