The following tradition was obtained in January, 1906, from an old Eastern Pomo man and his wife. The husband stated that he had himself been a bear doctor at one time in his life. In his later years he became a noted practitioner of ordinary Indian “medicine,” and was much in demand as a “sucking doctor.” His old wife proved a very valuable informant on Pomo mythology, and it was while relating myths that the subject of bear doctors was mentioned and the fact developed that her husband had practiced this craft when a younger man. The incident led to a full discussion of the entire matter with the couple, and resulted in the recording of the following material. This was given by the Indians more as a personal favor than for any other reason, and was communicated only after a pledge that their story would not be spread about as long as the two were still alive. Both are now deceased, as is also the interpreter who aided in recording the material, so that there is no reason for longer withholding this information. Out of deference to the relatives of the three, it seems best not to name them in these pages. Besides the myth, these two old people furnished the greater part of the descriptive information given in the remainder of this paper, but additional data from other informants have been included. Unless otherwise stated, the Pomo terms are in the Eastern dialect. In the days before Indians were upon the earth, and when the birds and mammals were human, there was a large village at _danō xa_.[2] These people were great hunters, pursuing their game with bows and arrows and spears. But chiefly they set snares in every direction about the village. They had caught many kinds of game, but finally found a large grizzly bear in one of the snares. They saw that his carcass would furnish a great feast, but they were confronted with the difficult problem of getting their prize to the village. Each of the birds tried unsuccessfully to carry the bear, first on his right shoulder and then on his left, in the following order: _tsai_ (valley bluejay), _auaū_ (crow), _īlil_ (a species of hawk), _tīyal_ (yellowhammer), _karats_ (red-headed woodpecker), _sawalwal_ (mountain bluejay), _bakaka_ (pileated woodpecker), _kabanasiksik_ (a large species of woodpecker), _cagak ba bīya_ (a species of hawk), _kiya_ (a species of hawk), _sīwa_ (mountain robin), _tsitōtō_ (robin redbreast), _tcūma tsīya_ (grass bird), and _tīnītal_.