The crow is much in disfavour because it eats the corn. Only the young crows are eaten.
The large swifts (olamáka) are thought to be witches, who pierce the souls of people and eat them. They are used by the sorcerers, whom they obey like dogs. Once a woman was sitting in a corn-field watching it by the side of a fire, and making yarn, when a swift settled on her skirt. She told a girl to bring a large basket, with which she covered the bird up, caught it and had it for many years. Every night the bird flew away, and then returned in the morning. Once, when the woman was absent at a tesvino feast, the girl killed the bird and roasted it. She could not eat it, however, because it had such a bad smell, and the woman found it on her return in the basket, dead and roasted. The girl ran away and the raccoons ate the corn the woman was watching.
The giant woodpecker during the wet season rises high up toward the sun; that is why he gets his tail burned.
When the Tarahumares handle any kind of fish they take care not to touch their hair, for fear that it may turn grey and they become old.
The rattlesnakes are the companions of the sorcerers and watch to meet them and then talk with them. A Mexican once killed a rattlesnake, and the Indian grew very angry and said that the snake had protected his house; now he had no one to guard it.
Large serpents, which only the shamans can see, are thought to live in the rivers. They have horns and very big eyes.
The dragon-fly has no song; it flies about without making a noise.
Tata Dios put sheep into the world; they are good animals because they give wool from which people can weave blankets, and their meat is good, and they do not weep when they are killed. But goats were put into the world by the Devil; their hair is of no use, their meat is bad, and they howl much when they are killed.
[1] The Rio Fuerte, the only large water-course in the Tarahumare country, empties into the Pacific Ocean.