42 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 195 



and pheasants are still hunted for their feathers, and hunting for 

 feathers was probably important in the past as well. 



Eagle feathers were particularly valued. Eagles were formerly 

 secured by either of two methods. The first resembles the ceremonial 

 eagle trapping of tribes farther up the IMissouri, but apparently lacked 

 the lengthy ritual observances of such groups as the Mandan, Hidatsa, 

 and Yanktonai Dakota. Pits about 4 feet deep were dug on a high 

 bluff, of a diameter sufficient to hold two men. These were carefully 

 camouflaged with screens of woven branches covered with turf and 

 leaves. A small hole was left in the center of the screen. A f reslily 

 killed rabbit was impaled on a stick and placed over tliis hole, so 

 that the end of the stick would be moved by the men in the pit. They 

 would move the rabbit about, making it appear that the rabbit was 

 wounded. The eagle, flying overhead, would see what appeared to be 

 a wounded rabbit and descend upon it. Once he had taken a grip on 

 the decoy one of the men would reach up through the hole, grab the 

 eagle's feet and pull it down into the pit, where the other man would 

 club it to death (PLC). 



The other method was to watch an eagle gorge itself on carrion, 

 then quickly run over to where it sat and club it to death. According 

 to PLC, the birds were often so heavy that they would topple over in 

 their clumsy attempts to fly. When firearms became available to the 

 Ponca both of these methods were abandoned. The Ponca con- 

 tinued to observe, however, the custom of leaving an eagle's carcass 

 untouched for 4 days before plucking the feathers, lest they acquire 

 "eagle sickness." 



Trapping for furs does not seem to have been very important to the 

 Ponca prior to the last quarter of the 18th century, as we find little 

 mention of it in tribal traditions. However, when the European 

 traders became established in the Ponca country, trapping became 

 important, for then the Ponca could exchange furs for trade items. 

 Beaver, muskrat, and raccoon were the important fur bearers in the 

 Ponca region. The present term for 25 cents in ^egiha^ Mikdhidawa^ 

 means 'coonskin,' and is a survival from the days when a coonskin 

 had this value in trade ( JLR) . 



Trapping parties were of necessity small. One obscene Ponca story 

 tells of two men and a woman making up such a party and another tells 

 of a party of four men going on a trapping expedition during a time 

 of famine (JLR). Traps were used in the manner taught by the 

 Europeans, though some practices were elaborated by the Ponca them- 

 selves. Gilmore (1919, p. 89) mentions, for example, that traps were 

 washed in a decoction of chokecherry bark boiled in water to remove 

 the scent of previous catches. Trapping is still practiced to a small 



