THE FIRST HAWK
During the short Greenland summer the Eskimos live along the seacoast. They put up their strange skin huts and hunt and fish and make merry through the season when the sun shines at midnight.
Now in places along the Greenland coast there are steep high cliffs. Here the birds which fly farther north in summer make their nests.
Often, as the Eskimo sits by his campfire, he hears the half-angry, half-sad cry of "Kea! Kea! Kea!" Looking up then, he often sees a lonely hawk sitting on the highest, most desolate cliff.
The Eskimo father laughs when he hears this cry and sees the lonely bird on the cliff top. Then the little Eskimo children creep nearer to their father with certainty that a new story is in store for them.
"Tell us the story of the hawk!" the Eskimo children cry eagerly.
This then is the story which the Eskimo father tells to his little ones "in their funny furry clothes."
"Long, long ago in a tiny Eskimo village, there lived a strange-looking old woman. Her neck was so short that she really looked as though she had no neck at all and as though her head was set upon her shoulders.
"People laughed when they saw the funny-looking old woman. Some were so unkind as to make fun of her strange appearance.
"This unkindness made the old woman very unhappy.
"By and bye the children of the village went every day to the hut of the old woman to play.
"They teased and tormented her. If she raised the bearskin curtain at the doorway and spoke to them they did not heed her.
"'Short neck! Short neck!' the rude children shouted. Then they stood and laughed at her.
"So it came that the poor old woman grew more and more unhappy. To escape her tormentors she often climbed to the cliff tops and sat on the edges of high rocks where it was difficult to follow.
"Here, safe and quiet, she would sit for hours. Sometimes in her loneliness she raised her arms above her head and cried aloud.
"The people of the tiny Eskimo village often saw the lonely figure on the cliffs. They noticed that the old woman stayed less and less in her little snow hut in the village.
"Then one morning an Eskimo child, looking up, thought she saw the old woman sitting as usual on the rocks. But the child's brother said that he saw only a strange bird with a very short neck.
"At that moment the bird raised its wings and flapped them above its head.
"'Kea! Kea! Kea!' cried the strange new bird. 'Kea! Kea! Kea! who was it called me short neck?'
"'Ah,' said the children's father, looking up from his fishing-nets, 'I think you both were right.'"
ORIGIN OF THE RAVEN AND THE MACAW
(ZUNI CREATION MYTH)
Long, long ago there were but few Indians on the earth. The world was not as it is now. The earth people did not understand things as they now understand them.
It therefore happened that a beautiful Indian prince came to live with the earth people.
In his hand he carried a plume stick. It was a magic wand and was covered with feathers of beautiful colours.
There were yellow feathers. There were red feathers. There were blue-green feathers. There were black and white and gray feathers.
Fastened to this magic wand were also many strange shells and charms which the earth children did not understand and which the strange prince did not explain fully.
"What is this strange plume stick?" asked the earth children.
"It is the magic wand which tests the hearts of earth children," was the reply.
The earth children wondered, but they did not understand.
"Ah, but show us what you mean!" they cried, eagerly.
"Look!" replied the strange prince.
Then amid the plumes and charms of the magic wand there appeared four round things.
"They are eggs!" cried the earth children. "Two are blue like the sky. Two are red-brown like the dust of our own pleasant earth!"
Then the earth children asked many questions which the strange prince tried patiently to explain.
"Now," said the strange prince, "choose whichever eggs you will. By and bye they will hatch. From them will come birds such as you never before have seen. From each pair of eggs will come a pair of birds."
"You who choose the blue eggs shall follow the birds which come from the blue shells. You and your children and your children's children shall dwell in the land in which these birds nest.
"You who choose the red-brown eggs shall follow the birds which come from the red-brown shells. You and your children and your children's children shall dwell in the land in which these birds nest!"
"But which shall we choose?" cried the eager earth children.
"Nay," said the strange prince, "that I may not tell. But this much you may know:
"From one pair of eggs shall come forth beautiful birds. Their feathers shall be coloured, like the leaves and fruits of summer. They shall nest in the land of everlasting summer-time and plenty.
"They who choose those eggs will follow these birds to the beautiful country of summer-time. The fruits will ripen daily and fall into the hands of the lucky earth children. Their food will come to them without labour and they shall know neither hunger nor cold."
"And what will happen if we choose the other pair of eggs?"
The strange prince shook his head half sadly and smiled on the earth children.
"From the other pair of eggs," he said, "shall come forth birds with black feathers, piebald with white. This pair will nest in a land where you may gain food by labour only.
"Those who follow this pair of birds shall struggle summer and winter. By long days of toil they shall provide food. By long nights of watchfulness they shall keep warmth within their homes."
Then the strange prince ceased speaking. The earth children looked at each other and forgot to speak. Each looked into the eyes of the other and asked a question. Each wished to follow the birds which would lead them to the land of everlasting summer-time and idleness and plenty.
"Which eggs do you choose?" asked the strange prince.
"The blue—the blue!" cried the earth children. Then those who were strongest and quickest pushed forward.
They fought for the blue eggs, and getting them hurried away with gladness.
They buried the blue eggs in the soft loam on the sunny side of the cliff. They sat down to watch when the young birds should hatch.
Now there remained those weaker earth children who had been pushed aside. For them there was no choice. The strange prince gave into their hand the red-brown eggs.
The red-brown eggs were placed amid the soft green grasses by the riverside. The earth children into whose care they were given sat also by the riverside and waited.
Sometimes, as they waited for the hatching of the red-brown eggs, they looked up to the place in the cliff where the stronger ones watched the beautiful blue eggs.
Then the weaker ones sighed and turned to the ugly red-brown eggs amid the grasses.
By and bye, as those on the cliff waited, they heard faint tappings inside the blue shells.
"Ah," they said, "the birds will come soon now. They will lead us to the land of summer-time."
When at length the shells burst and the young birds came out, they looked much as other birds look. They had large mouths and panting sides and tiny featherless bodies. Soon the pin-feathers appeared.
"See!" cried the watchers, "now the beautiful plumage is starting!"
And those by the riverside, hearing the cry, looked up, and looking up they sighed. The red-brown eggs also were cracking open and the young birds coming out of the shells. Soon the earth children must follow their bird leaders. They fed and tended the young birds for still a few days.
Then one morning there were sighs and discontent on the cliff. For the birds which came from the blue shells were feathered and ready for flight. Their colours were black and white! So also is all the bare earth and the new-fallen snow!
It was a pair of ravens, which the stronger earth children followed to the country where winter follows summer and where men work for food. As the earth children laboured, the ravens taunted them with hoarse, laughing cries.
Now those other earth children who watched the red-brown eggs stood up by the riverside and smiled.
From the red-brown eggs had come birds of gorgeous plumage. On the breath of a sweet-scented breeze they were wafted far to southward—to the summer land. And those earth children who followed the beautiful birds still live easily in the land of everlasting summer-time.
ALL ABOUT THE CHICKEN-HAWK
SUGGESTIONS FOR FIELD LESSONS
Voice—sharp, harsh, discordant cries—queer "whistling" noises.
Upper parts brownish black mixed with white—throat and under tail coverts white—other under parts having darker markings.
Bill—short, curved, and very sharp.
Claws—strong, curved, and very sharp,—middle toe longest.
Wings—long and pointed—made for rapid flight and long journeys.
Female larger than male.
Food—other smaller birds of the air—small ducks and chickens—occasionally larger insects, snakes, etc.
Nest in the fork of a tree—made of crooked sticks and lined with leaves, bark, etc.
Eggs—two to four in number, bluish white, thickly speckled with brown.
Iris in young bird's eyes yellow—turning to reddish brown with maturity.
ALL ABOUT THE RAVEN
SUGGESTIONS FOR FIELD LESSONS
Three times the size of robin.
Does not migrate, but is usually resident in the place where it can best provide for itself and family.
Is glossy black in colour, with gleams of purple and green above—duller underneath.
Flies in wide circles high above the tree-tops, and utters a weird, uncanny cry, which has given it the name of being a bird of ill omen, and to many people the cry of the raven is deemed a sign of approaching evil.
Nest very compactly built of sticks and grasses and lined with wool from sheep's back. Nest is used year after year, being often relined and made habitable.
Young when first hatched are black and white—they however change to entire black in a very short time.
Food of the raven is varied, apparently anything edible which comes in his way—grain, seeds, grubs, worms, field-mice, fruit, are found on his menu.