Compare with these the following sobriquets of Siouan old totem kins, counting descent in the male line.
SIOUAN NAMES OF GENTES
Eaters
Eat the scrapings of hides
Eat dried venison
Eat dung
Eat raw food
Among the Sioux we have also noted the sobriquets
Non-Eaters of
Deer
Buffalos
Swans
Cranes
Blackbirds, etc.
These sobriquets of non-eaters are probably totemic: the Deer kin does not eat deer, nor does the Crane kin eat cranes, and so on. Totem kins are named from what they do not eat; many totem kins with male descent are nicknamed from what they do eat, or are alleged by their neighbours to eat.
GROUP SOBRIQUETS IN ORKNEY.
In the following letter, which I owe to the kindness of Mr. Duncan Robertson, we read that, in Orkney and Shetland, local sobriquets are derived from what the people are alleged to eat. The tradition is, Mr. Robertson informs me, that each group is named after the edible plant or animal which it brought when engaged in building the Cathedral of Kirkwall.
Crantit House, St. Ola, Orkney,
Jan. 29, 1903.Dear Mr. Lang,—My tyrannical doctor won't let me out yet, so that I have not been able to collect all the information I should like to get for you about the Orkney nicknames—or 'bye-names,' as they are called here.
Here follows the list as taken from Tudor's The Orkneys and Shetland, with alterations: