Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1901-05-19
CLAIM TO OWN THE EAGLES.
Pueblo Indian Clans of New Mexico
Assert Ownership in Nests of
The Birsls.

Among the Pueblo Indians of New |
McXico and Arizona there is property !
right i'm eagles Each clan claims own
crship in several eagle nests which
may or may not be near the place
where the clan lives. When the nests
are distant from the villages where
the Indians claiming them live it has
been found that the ancestors of these
Indians came in former years from
the localities where the nests now
are, and they point to the fact
that these nests are theirs as proof
that they also. by inheritance, own
thc land round about them. Driven
into new locations by marauding
Nayaios and Utes, these Pueblo lndi-
ans have steadily contracted their oc-
cupied territory, but they still visit
the old nests. as their forefathers Wis
tied them before the white man came
to Mexico. Some of the Pueblo lndi-
ans. the Zunis, for instance, keep
eagles in cages and treat them as do
mestic fowls, but the most of the
tribes procure their eagles by taking
the Young from the ancestral nests
These Indians keep turkeys also, but
neither turkeys nor eagles are kept
for food. With TIE feathers of the
birds the Indian decorates himself
and his prayer sticks" on occasions of
religious ceremony. The various
tribes respect one another's property
rights in certain nests and the birds
which are Matched in them and a
heavy punishment is provided for an
Indian killing any eagle not his own,
says the Chicago Chronicle.
Sometimes the nests are 50 miles
| from where the tribe lives, but investi-
| CATION always shows that the tribe
| lived once where the nest is. Genera
| tions without number the eagle builds
his nest in the same spot and rears his
Young there. So the title of the Pueb-
| los reaches back to the twilight of
American history Those Pueblo In
dans speak of their eagles as they do
of their sheep, their dogs or their
horses. Though the king of birds may
be flying half hundred miles from
the Indians abode yet it is the lndi'
ans eagle.
When an Indian visits one of his
nests to secure a bird he does not take
all the young, but leaves some, so thai
the breed may be perpetuated. Re
turning home with his eaglet, he strips
it of its feathers and kills it. The body
of the eagle is not thrown on the rub
bish heap, but is buried in specia
eagle burying ground. The ancien
Pueblo Indians used to keep parrot:
as domestic birds, probably only fol
their feathers. which were used in dec
orations for religious services. Thest
parrots they obtained by barter will
the MeXicans to the south of them
1t is known that the Aztecs kept va
riety of birds as domestic fowls ant
used them for food. as well as eatint
their eggs, but the Pueblo Indian
seem to have kept their domestic bird
for their feathers solely.
Painter of War scenes Who Fought
NJ. Vasili Nerestchagin, who's
friends argue that, by painting reaI
'stically the horrors of war, he ha
, dozen much to promote peace, has see
all that he places on canvas. ut is a
very well to say that war is grand an
heroic," he argues, and that tightin
is a glorious thing. So it is-to rea
about. But | have seen war; | hay
fought for my country, and haV
killed man and many men in tn
terror and excitement of battle.
know what horrible, savage, inhuma
thing it is, and it is my business to l'
the public see what | have seen. The
tell me | should paint war in beautifl
colors, as if an honest man could pain
a lie and call it truth!"-Chicag
Times Herald.