192 THE WINNEBAGO TRIBE [eth. ann. 37 



to it. There is no doubt but that in older times the Wolf clan played 

 a far greater part in the afifairs of the tribe than it does to-day, but 

 that it ever was the principal clan of the tribe is out of the question. 



With regard to Dorsey's postulation of a Bird (ivaniylc) clan, all 

 that can be said is that the author obtained nothing confirmatory of 

 it. It is just possible that Dorsey, who apparently did not know of 

 the existence of the two phratries, misinterpreted a popular grouping 

 of the four clans of the upper phratry, as representing a fundamental 

 division. Historically it may, indeed, be true that the four clans of 

 the upper phratry represent the subdivision of one clan. 



The archaic names for the Wolf and Bear clans can not be trans- 

 lated with any degree of certauaty any longer. It is barely possible 

 that degoni means "lake band" and tconanlc means "blue back." 

 Whether these are simply a second set of names, or whether they repre- 

 sent an historically older set, it is impossible to say to-day. The 

 probabilities are that they are terms of respect. 



The absence of the Warrior clan in Dorsey's list and the presence of 

 a Hawk clan is rather interesting, for it shows that only 25 years ago 

 the bird name for this clan was still in use. The Warrior and Hawk 

 clans are identical, the latter being, however, the appellation that is 

 preferred to-day. 



In addition to the names given above, some of the clans have names 

 indicative of respect, such as hung^ for the Water-spirit, Tiaga for 

 the male members of the Bear clan, and vxirowina for the female 

 members. It is also possible that the names degoni and tconanlc, 

 mentioned by Dorsey for the Wolf and Bear clans, were terms of 

 respect. 



RECKONING OF DESCENT 



Descent is patrilineal and a man's name generally belongs to his 

 father's clan. Formerly there never was an exception to the rule 

 that the name must belong to the father's clan, but of recent years 

 the Winnebago have become very lax in this particlular. The 

 irregularities in the giving of names were due to two causes — first, 

 the intermarriage of Winnebago women with white men or with 

 Indians of other tribes where the clan organization was either 

 unknown or where descent was matrilineal, and, secondly, to the 

 fact that the wife's parents were often in a better position to pay 

 for the naming feast than the parents of the father. When a 

 Winnebago woman marries a man who either has no clan or who 

 reckons descent in the mother's line, the children are always con- 

 sidered as belonging to the mother's clan. This, however, lasts for 

 only one generation. As a result the male children of such a mar- 

 riage perpetuate the clan of the mother, although they transmit it 

 thereafter in the male line. 



