t. Then the
people scattered out, and while most of them hid behind the rock piles and
bushes, a few started the antelope toward the mouth of the chute. As they
ran by them, the people showed themselves and yelled, and the antelope ran
down the chute and finally reached the pits, and falling into them were
taken, when they were killed and divided among the hunters. Afterward, this
was the common method of securing antelopes up to the coming of the whites.

EAGLES

Before the whites came to the Blackfoot country, the Indian standard of
value was eagle tail-feathers. They were used to make war head-dresses, to
tie on the head, and to ornament shields, lances, and other
weapons. Besides this, the wings were used for fans, and the body feathers
for arrow-making. Always a wary bird, the eagle could seldom be approached
near enough for killing with the bow and arrow; and, in fact, it seems as
if it was considered improper to kill it in that way. The capture of these
birds appears to have had about it something of a sacred nature, and, as
was always the case among wild Indians when anything important was to be
undertaken, it was invariably preceded by earnest prayers to the Deity for
help and for success.

There are still living many men who have caught eagles in the ancient
method, and, from several of these, accounts have been received, which,
while essentially similar, yet differ in certain particulars, especially in
the explanations of certain features of the ceremony.

Wolf Calf's account of this ceremony is as follows:--

"A man who started out to catch eagles moved his lodge and his family away
from the main camp, to some place where the birds were abundant. A spot was
chosen on top of a mound or butte within a few miles of his lodge, and here
he dug a pit in the ground as long as his body and somewhat deeper. The
earth removed was carried away to a distance, and scattered about so as to
make no show. When the pit had been made large enough, it was roofed over
with small willow sticks, on which grass was scattered, and over the grass
a little earth and stones were laid, so as to give the place a natural
look, like the prairie all about it.

"The bait was a piece of bloody neck of a buffalo. This, of course, could
be seen a long way off, and by the meat a stuffed wolf skin was often
placed, standing up, as if the animal were eating. To the piece of neck was
tied a rope, which passed down through the roof of the