From his manner I knew he was ready for his Indian stories and hastened to prepare notebooks and writing equipment. The old chief was watching, for he said with a smile:
“My white son there reminds me of a squirrel; he runs in one direction as if to steal something, then darts quickly in another; he never sits still a moment; he is always on the move.”
At that moment a woodpecker with red-crested head called from a tree top. Brings-Down-the-Sun pointed to the bird and said: “He calls to the worms and bugs to stick out their heads; he is hungry and wants to eat them.” [[227]]
I asked the chief to tell about other birds and their songs. He replied:
“We called the yellow-breast (Western meadow-lark) ‘big-rump-bird,’ because he is so broad across the back. He is one of the first birds to come in the spring. We are always glad to see him; when he comes we know that summer is near. He has different songs: ‘Good whistler (his wife) is a selfish woman’; also, ‘Your sister has a black skin.’
“The black breast (horned lark) sings in the air: ‘Spread out your blanket and I will light upon it.’
“Summer bringers (white-throats) sing: ‘The leaves are budding and summer is coming.’
“We call the bird that chatters among the bushes, when women are gathering berries, ‘stingy-with-their-berries’ (kingbird). A bird with long legs and black breast (spotted sandpiper) we call ‘shadow-in-the-water,’ because it stands in shallow water and looks at its own shadow.
“My father taught me how to read the future, by watching the flights of birds and the habits of wild animals. Of all the birds, we look upon the raven as the wisest. When I see one soaring over our camp, I know a messenger is coming from a distance. If two ravens sit near a trail with their heads close together, it is a sign an enemy is near. On a hunt, if I see a flock of ravens playing together, I go in that direction and am sure to find game.
“My father told me how to read the signs in the sky—if the sun paints his face (sun dogs), a big storm is coming; when the ‘fires of the northmen’ (aurora) show in the sky, a heavy wind is coming; a ‘feeding star’ (comet), is a sign of famine and sickness; and if the sun hides his face (eclipse), a great chief is about to die. The rainbow is the ‘lariat’; it is the Thunder roping the rain; and the storm will slow up.” [[228]]