192 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY, 



THE THUNDER-BIRD. 



AN INDIAN LEGEND, BY WM. H. R. LYKINS. 



It is believed by some of the Indian tribes that thunder is caused by a great 

 bird, which has its home in the skies. The sound, they say, is caused by the 

 flapping of its wings as it revels in the storm cloud sweeping over the earth. In 

 connection with this bird they tell the following story : 



An Indian hunter was one day returning from a visit to his traps. On his 

 back he carried two beavers which he had taken, tied together with strings of 

 bark. In his hand he carried a long hunting spear. As he was walking quietly 

 along something like a dark cloud suddenly over- shadowed him, and looking up 

 he saw an enormous bird swooping down upon him. Before he could place him- 

 self in an attitude of defense, he was grasped in its talons and borne rapidly up- 

 ward. Soon the tall trees dwindled into shrubs, next the high hills faded away, 

 and finally the whole earth disappeared. Upward and onward through space the 

 bird carried him until there appeared far in the west a long range of lofty and 

 precipitous cliffs. Toward these cliffs the bird directed its flight, and having 

 reached them, sailed slow and heavily along their sides. At times she would 

 dash the hunter violently against the rocks, but with his spear which he still re- 

 tained, he warded off the blows and escaped unharmed. 



At last they arrived at the moutti of a great cavern into which the bird threw 

 the hunter and disappeared. He lay stunned by the fall until aroused by an 

 unearthly shriek, and lifting his head he saw in one corner of cavern a young 

 thunder- bird which was now clamoring for its noonday meal. Hastily untying the 

 "beavers from his back he threw them to the bird whicn swallowed each one of them 

 at a gulp, then quietly settled back in its nest. The hunter now took a view of his 

 situation. The floor was strewn with the bones of deer, wolves and great ser- 

 pents, with here and there a grinning human skull which seemed to mock his 

 helplessness and remind him of the terrible death which awaited him. He ap- 

 proached the mouth of the cavern and looked out. Far away on either hand 

 stretched that wall of rock, lonely and desolate. Not even a blade of grass could 

 find a resting-place on its steep and sterile sides ; not even the hum of an insect 

 or the chirp or a desert cricket broke the oppressive silence. Above and below 

 were the awful depths of blue. 



There seemed to be but little chance for an escape from such a place but the 

 hunter was one of the bravest of his tribe; tried in many times of danger and not 

 one to despair while life remained. Approaching the young bird which was now 



