(6)
The Milky Way is bine′s·imi·k·αnʻ “bird’s path,” because it is by the Milky Way that the fowl and birds follow their northward or southward course in their migrations. It guides them southward in the autumn and back again in the spring. Less frequently the Milky Way is called dji·ba′imi·k·αnʻ “spirit path” over which the spirits of the dead are thought to journey. [[24]]
(7)
To see a white animal is a sign of bad luck to a hunter. “Once a man went hunting. After he had been travelling all day and taken a few animals, he saw a bear that was half black and half white. Then he said to himself, ‘I must not hunt any more this trip. If I do, some harm will come to my family.’ So he went home.”—“If a hunter sees an albino animal he must stop hunting or evil will befall him or some member of his family.”
(8)
To find a dwarfed animal is an omen of misfortune. “Once two men were out on a long hunting trip. Soon after they had begun trapping, they found a dwarfed beaver in one of the traps. It was not small because it was young, but they could see it was an old one, but much undersized. When the older of the two men saw this, he said, ‘We must go home at once and give up hunting because something is wrong at home.’ Although they had been gone only a short time, they turned back, and when they got home, they found that one of his sons was dead and that the family was waiting to bury him.”
(9)
To foretell what kind of animals will be killed the next day by men just before going hunting, a partridge breast bone is burnt or scorched before the fire. The shape of the scorched portion suggests, by a vague resemblance, the form of some animal.
(10)
The tips of the wings of birds that are killed for food are preserved about the camp for good luck, or, as they say, “to ask for more luck.” Some hunters also preserve the skulls of all the game they kill. “If they throw these parts of the animals away, they won’t be able to find what creatures they may look for afterward.” [[25]]