10 



THE OOLOGIST 



•*dlrtle'^b\^ng''fi'o'm right- 1(>' left. The 

 '''d!a'nce!'is"at 'the full mdoiior near that 

 ''■flfatie'.'* It' is' a fascinating movement, 

 •^itli'tlie left foot slightly advancing 

 at 6ach step, and with slight giving of 

 the limb so that the body courtesies to 

 the left, while the right foot and limb 

 follows firmly with a bending of the 

 body to the right. And meanwhile the 

 males give the re-echoing prolonged 

 whoop. When they have so danced 

 around a couple of times, they fly into 

 confusion as to mates, with a far '•'^- 

 sounding noise from tlie wings, and 

 then reniate and continue this until 

 they have mated according to choice 

 The males seem ready to accept any 

 choice of the females. 



The old Indian mating dance is very 

 much like this chicken dance (called 

 by the Indians siho-waci; siho mean- 

 ing prairie chicken, and waci, dance), 

 at certain parts of the performance; 

 though it begins by a male dancing out 

 alone in the circle until a' female is 

 inspired to join him in this dance, and 

 when the two have danced something 

 like the highland fling for a time, 

 though at times with laands extended 

 or slightly touching each other, another 

 female may dance out and try to win 

 the attention of the male, and then 

 another male and so on until all are 

 in the dance;- and then the circle is 

 assumed. Not only all the boys and 

 girls of proper a'ge take part in this 

 dance, in whicli all are supposed to 

 mate, during the May full moon night, 

 but married couples remate, though 

 th(- remating was nearly always the 

 same pairs that were previously mat- 

 ed. If a married male cannot so dance 

 as to win his former mate, it is a bad 

 omen for him, and this leads married 

 males to favor their wives during the 

 winter and especially so as spring- 

 time approaches. In the prairie 

 chicken dance, just before the con- 



fusion starts they are supposed to 

 sing: 



"Across the circle flying, 

 Confusion is reunion; 

 The winter and the springtime sweet 

 Make passions for sweet passions 

 meet." 



Another runs: 



"All life is long and love is true. 

 And love and life are old and new, 

 And there's no veto on lier plan 

 Howe'er ill luck may hit a man." 

 Her means Mother Earth. This 

 song is to encourage a male forsaken 

 by his mate. 



Of the smaller birds the oriole'-s 

 song is said to be "Hochunk-ra-haj- 

 rena" meaning the Winnebagoes have 

 come. The humming bird is called 

 "dana-kana'-kana-kay," which means 

 feed on tobacco blossoms. In early 

 days, by means of prayer and fasting, 

 warriors often acquired the speed of 

 the humming bird, and a warrior once 

 wore humming birds as ear rings and 

 by this means was transformed into a 

 humming bird and thereby enabled to 

 detect the enemies number and move- 

 ments at a great distance. The eggs 

 of tlie humming bird and finch are 

 hard to find and should anyone find 

 the eggs of either of these, some mem- 

 ber of the finder's family will surely 

 die. 



It is a well know fact that the In- 

 dians measured time by the phases of 

 the moon and they had calendar sticks 

 in which they cut a notch for each 

 moon or month. When they are in 

 doubt and some one starts an argu- 

 ment about the date, they examine the 

 chickadee's tongue. They say that in 

 the beginning the task of recording 

 the moons was assigned to the chicka- 

 dee, and the birds method is to make 

 notches in its tongue; thus, in Septem- 

 ber its tongue is single pointed; in 

 October, it has two points; in Novem- 

 ber, three, and so on until February, 

 when it is said that its tongue has six 



