AT THE PAINTED WOODS. 140 
Indian wives of the firm had long since ceased to be 
among the living. 
Point Preparation had an unusul amount of hard wood, 
many of the oaks being very old with hollow trunks. To 
this was attributed the large number of big owls found 
there. Aricaree campers at the point in Indian war days 
were often alarmed by the hooting of the owls in which 
many of the Sioux Warriors were excellent mimics 
The Mandans were accredited by the other tribes as un- 
derstanding the language of these birds and were often 
called in as interpreters when hooting owls and a Man- 
dan were in the same woods together. 
The magpies proved to be the most interesting of 
birds and were of much assistance to the deer stalker 
and still hunter when following their vocation in thick 
brush. They seemed to know exactly what the hunter was 
after and would go a hundred yards or more in advance 
of him and when it espied a deer would fly up near 
the animal and set up a vehement chatter. The hunter 
would locate the sound, make a careful sneak and with 
the advantages thus given him, frequently got his game. 
The magpie expected the offals for its services and 
usually got them. However a dark day came upon the 
magpie when the poisoner came and used the entrals to 
kill wolves. The birds being great meat eaters, thus 
fell victims by the thousands, and at the end of two or 
three years, they were so terrified that the whole specie 
made higeri from the Upper Missouri south of the Milk 
river, and departed for the Rocky Mountains. Forten 
years not a magpie could be seen. After that date a 
few returned—very few, in comparison with the thous 
sands that once made their homes in North Dakota. 
