“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.” CALENDAR OF MOONS “The first moon of winter (November) is the ‘wind-moon,’ or ‘time of the first big snow.’ “Last of December and early January, ‘moon of the first warm wind’ (chinook). “January, ‘moon when the jack rabbit whistles at night.’ “February, ‘moon of heavy snows,’ or ‘when buffalo calves are black.’ “March, ‘moon of sore eyes,’ or ‘moon when the geese fly north.’ “April, ‘moon when ice breaks up in the rivers.’ “The spring moon has different names—‘time when the trees are budding,’ ‘when buffalo calves are yellow,’ ‘when the buffalo plant is in flower,’ ‘when the grass begins to grow.’ “May, ‘moon when the leaves come out.’ “June, ‘moon of high water.’ “Late June and July, ‘moon of flowers,’ ‘when strawberries get ripe.’ “We call August, ‘home days.’ “September, ‘moon when the leaves turn yellow.’ “October, ‘moon when the leaves fall.’ “Last of October and early November, ‘moon when the geese fly south.’ “My father used to sit by the lodge-fire on long winter evenings and tell us stories and the wonderful things that happened in his life. He told about the Stars and the Sun and the Moon, saying: THE BUNCHED STARS “There is a family of small stars in the sky; we call them Bunched Stars. They are some children that got lost from an Indian camp on the plains long ago. “This happened in the spring, the moon when the buffalo calves are yellow. Some hunters were driving buffalo over a cliff. When they went back to camp, they gave the little yellow skins of the buffalo calves to their children, who wore them in playing.