BIRDS OF PEASEMARSH 



teries as the setting of the sun, the rising of 

 the moon and the blowing of the wind, and 

 among these was that mystery of the autumn, 

 the passing of the birds. About those wigwam 

 fires strange tales were told of warriors that had 

 travelled down the great streams and had come 

 upon flocks of birds feeding among the trees 

 and shrubs that were never leafless, and bath- 

 ing in the pools that were never frozen; and 

 there grew among the Redmen a legend of the 

 travels of the birds. It seems that when the 

 Great Spirit first sent the Snow Chief down to 

 earth He made pathways in the sky with fleecy 

 cloud flecks that only birds could see, and all 

 those birds that could find no food when the 

 Snow Chief reigned over the land, were to 

 follow those pathways and they would lead 

 them to food and warmth and sunshine. But 

 when the Snow Chief took his robe of snow 

 and ice from off the earth they must return 

 again to the old nesting places. And ever 

 since along those pathways in the sky the 

 birds have travelled every autumn and home- 

 ward every spring. 



The White man simply says it is the birds' 

 sense of direction that shows them the way. 

 [1481 



