64 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 80 
Those who were less serious in temperament spent much time in 
the diversions of the camp. One of the principal diversions was the 
telling of stories. In ordinary times a man who desired to hear some 
of the old stories might send for a story-teller, cook a feast, give him 
a few gifts, and ask him to tell his stories, but at an eagle camp the 
story-telling was more expensive, and a man might even give his 
wife to the story-teller in return for his services. 
When a man seated in an eagle trap secured an eagle, he strangled 
it with twine made of tough wood fiber (see p. 60). He then pulled 
out the tail feathers and took the body of the eagle to Old Wolverine, 
who cut off the wings and returned them to him. Old Wolverine 
then asked some one to dig a grave for the eagle and “there was a 
little ceremony when the eagle was buried.” Before going tothe eagle 
camp the people ‘provided pieces of cloth about a yard in length. 
No special color was preferred, but the cloth must be new. When 
an eagle was buried it was customary to “ offer ” these pieces of cloth 
to him, with native tobacco,® these articles being placed in the grave. 
When this was finished, the successful eagle catcher gave a feast to 
his friends, and also offered food to the spirit. of the eagle. In the 
latter action they tied the feathers and wings of the eagle to a pole 
in front of the lodge, so located that the sun would strike it, and the 
food was eaten within the lodge. 
ORIGIN OF THE CUSTOM OF EAGLE CATCHING 
The following narrative was given by Ben Benson, with Water 
Chief present for consultation. The authority of Ben Benson on this 
matter has been established in the preceding section. Benson said: 
“ Down near Painted Woods Creek there was once a Mandan village 
called the Brown Earth village. The man considered leader of that 
village was named Sun. He and his wife had several daughters, but 
only one son, of whom they were very proud. The boy’s name was 
Black Wolf. They loved the boy so much that they would not let 
him work and indulged him in everything. But when the crier went 
through the camp, calling for young men to go out and look for 
game, this boy’s name was never called. One night the crier came 
near the place where this boy was courting a girl, and the boy said, 
‘Call my name.’ He did this in order to impress the girl, but the 
crier called his name with those of five others. They were required 
to start at daybreak the next morning, and the crier sent them toward 
the north. It was autumn, and about the month of October, when 
they started. 
68 A specimen of this plant was collected and identified as Cubelium concolor (Forst) 
Raf. by Mr. Paul C, Standley, assistant curator, Division of Plants, United States National 
Museum, Washington, D. C. 
