MooxEY) THK HIKD TRIBES 285 



iiiiiiiy years :i<;() was called Ity the curious name of nundd-dikar)!' . " it 

 lo()i<s at the suii." ■■ suii-jiazer." It is described as resemblini;- a hhie 

 crane, and may possibly ha\ e been the Fhtridux ccru/ra, or little blue 

 horon. Another iiit're(iuent visitor, which sometimes passed o\er the 

 mountain coiuitry in company with Hocks of wild g'eese, was the 

 yii' tfi>«/i(iri' , so called from its cr\'. It is described as resemblini"' a 

 liirtre snipe, with yellow legs and feet unwel)bed. and is thouirjit to 

 visit Indian Territory at intervals. It is chiefly notable from the 

 fact that the celebrated clii(>f .John Koss derives his Indian name, 

 (tu'wIsouwi'. from this bird, the name being perpetuated in Coowee- 

 scoowee district of the Cherokee Nation in the West. 



Another chance visitant, concerning which there is much curious 

 speculation among the older men of the East Cherokee, was called 

 tiiuri'digvnintsu''gl ov tsun'digwun'tskl, "forked," referring to the tail. 

 It ai)peared but once, for a short season, about forty years ago. and 

 has not been seen since. It is said to have been pale blue, with red 

 in places, and nearly the .size of a crow, and to have had a long 

 forked tail like that of a tish. It preyed upon hornets, which it took 

 upon the wing, and also feasted upon the larvae in the ne.sts. A])p(>ar- 

 ing unexpectedly and as suddenly di.sappearing, it was believed to b(> 

 not a bird but a transformecl i-(>d-horse fish {Md.rnKtoma, Ciierokee 

 d/if/d'), a theory borne out bj- the red spots and the long, forked tail. It 

 is even maintained that about the time those birds first appeared some 

 hunters on Oconaluftee saw seven of them sitting on the liml) of a tree 

 and they were still shaped like a rixl-horse, although they already had 

 wings and feathers. It was undoubtedly the scissor-tail or swallow- 

 tailed flycatcher {Mlh'id us forfind >(><), which belongs properly in Texas 

 and the adjacent region, but strays occasionally into the eastern states. 



On account of the red throat appendage of the turkey, somewhat 

 resem})ling the goitrous growth know'n in the South as '"kernels" 

 (Cherokee, didc't-sl), the feathers of this bird arc not worn by ball 

 players, neither is the neck allowed to be eaten by children or sick 

 persons, under the fear that a growth of "kernels" would be the 

 result. The meat of the rufi'ed grouse, locally known as the pheasant 

 {Bonma umhellm), is tabued to a pregnant woman, because this bird 

 hatches a large brood, but loses most of them before maturit}\ Under 

 a stricter construction of the theory this meat is forbidden to a woman 

 until she is past child bearing. 



The redbird, faf.su'/iim, is believed to have been originally the 

 daughter of the Sun (see the story). The ku/iu, or yellow mocking- 

 bird, occurs in several stories. It is regarded as something supernat- 

 ural, possibly on account of its imitative powers, and its heart is given 

 to children to make them quick to learn. 



The chickadee {Parus caroUnensis), Mkilil?', and the tuftiMl tit- 

 mou.se, {JWkx hicolor), utsi/yl, or u'stufl, are })oth regarded as news 



