properly in Texas
and the adjacent region, but strays occasionally into the eastern states.
On account of the red throat appendage of the turkey, somewhat
resembling the goitrous growth known in the South as "kernels"
(Cherokee, dideUsi), the feathers of this bird are not worn by ball
players, neither is the neck allowed to be eaten by children or sick
persons, under the fear that a growth of "kernels" would be the
result. The meat of the rutted grouse, locally known as the pheasant
[Sonasa umbettus), is tabued to a pregnant woman, because this bird
hatches a large brood, but loses most of them before maturity. Under
a stricter construction of the theory this meat is forbidden to a woman
until she is past child bearing.
The redbird, tatsu'hwd, is believed to have been originally the
daughter of the Sun (seein confirmation of this belief, among
which may 1 le instanced that of Tom Starr, a former noted outlaw of the
Cherokee Nation of the West, who, on one occasion, was about to walk
unwittingly into an ambush prepared for him along a narrow trail,
when he heard the warning note of the tsikilili', and, turning abruptly,
ran up the side of the ridge and succeeded in escaping with his life,
although hotly pursued by his enemies.
36. THE BALL GAME OF THE BIRDS AND ANIMALS
Once the animals challenged the birds to a great ballplay. and the
birds accepted. The leaders made the arrangements and fixed the
day. and when the time came both parties met at the place for the
ball dance, the animals on a smooth grassy bottom near the river and
the birds in the treetops