n the air--so far that he looked like a black speck. Then he
came down straight and struck that rock an awful blow--'swow!'--and
broke it in two pieces. Indeed he did. The blow was so great that it
spoiled the Night-hawk's bill, forever--made it queer in shape, and
jammed his head, so that it is queer, too. But he broke the rock, and
OLD-man stood upon his feet.

"'Thank you, Brother Night-hawk,' said OLD-man, 'now I will do
something for you. I am going to make you different from other
birds--make you so people will always notice you.'

"You know that when you break a rock the powdered stone is white, like
snow; and there is always some of the white powder whenever you break a
rock, by pounding it. Well, Old-man took some of the fine powdered
stone and shook it on the Night-hawk's wings in spots and stripes--made
the great white stripes you have seen on his wings, and told him that
no other bird could have such marks on his clothes.

"All the Night-hawk's children dress the same way now; and they always
will as long as there are Night-hawks. Of course their clothes make
them proud; and that is why they keep at flying over people's
heads--soaring and dipping and turning all the time, to show off their
pretty wings.

"That is all for to-night. Muskrat, tell your father I would run
Buffalo with him tomorrow--Ho!"

WHY THE MOUNTAIN-LION IS LONG AND LEAN

Have you ever seen the plains in the morning--a June morning, when the
spurred lark soars and sings--when the plover calls, and the curlew
pipes his shriller notes to the rising sun? Then is there music,
indeed, for no bird outsings the spurred lark; and thanks to OLD-man he
is not wanting in numbers, either. The plains are wonderful then--more
wonderful than they are at this season of the year; but at all times
they beckon and hold one as in a spell, especially when they are backed
or bordered by a snow-capped mountain range. Looking toward the east
they are boundless, but on their western edge superb mountains rear
themselves.

All over this vast country the Indians roamed, following the great
buffalo herds as did the wolves, and making their living with the bow
and lance, since the horse came to them. In the very old days the
"piskun" was used, and buffalo were enticed to follow a fantastically
dressed man toward a cliff, far enough to get the herd moving in that
direction, when the "buffalo-man" gained cover, and hidden Indians
raised from the