Newsletter - Historical Society of Alberta, Whoop-Up Country Chapter (1970)

              HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF ALBERTA
"= WHOOP-UP COUNTRY, CHAPTER
Number 1
NEWSLETTER
March, 1970
Membership in the Whoop-up Country Chapter (formerly the Lethbridge Branch), Historical Society of Alberta, and a subscription to the quarterly Alberta Historical Review can be obtained for $3.00 per year.  Send membership dues to:
Mrs. Lucille Dalke, Treasurer^
Whoop-up Country Chapter,
P. 0. Box 974,
Lethbridge, Alberta.
SOCIETY OFFICERS FOR 1970-71:
President Past-President Vice-President Second Vice-president Secretary Treasurer Social Convenor Council Member (1972) Council Member (1972) Council Member (1971) Council Member (1971) Council Member (1970) Council Member (1970)
Alex Johnston Frank A. Russell Ray Schuler George Watson Mrs. Janet Girvan Mrs. Lucille Dalke Mrs. L. J. McKenzie R. I. Baker Andrew J. Staysko George McKillop David J. Whitney R. J. Henry Clarence Geiger
BIRDS OF THE BLACKFOOT
In 1950 Claude E. Schaeffer, then Curator of the Museum of the Plains Indian, Browning, Montana, wrote an article on Blackfoot bird names.  (Schaeffer, C. E.  1950.  Bird nomen¬ clature and principles of avian taxonomy of the Blackfoot Indians.  Jour. Washington Acad. Sci. 4^, 37-46.) Many members may not have seen the reference and we have listed portions of it below.
Birds of the larger species are called pik&i,  a term that conveys the sense of magical or wonderful and refers to the power of flight.  Smaller, brightly-colored birds are iliti-i while the term pok&litiyi,   "little 4/C4;t6x"is reserved for less brightly-colored varieties such as sparrows. When the airplane came along, the Blackfoot named it ah'-pota,   "flies". And Hugh Dempsey tells a story with an avian twist:  "A boy sent to a residential school was given the name Emile by his teachers.  There is no '£' in the Blackfoot language and the closest his friends could get to the pronunciation of the name was eMinze.,  which means 'wings'.  Thus the teachers called the boy Emile and his friends called him Wings."
Specific Blackfoot bird names are:
Loon ffl(X-t4-6t4axp't, "fine charger" from the bird extending and beating its wings on the water. Grebe mikAk^LktayLL,   "fine diver"; also apa;t44e44-cfea, "legs grow backwards". White pelican ^okaukomi,  "big throat"; also oLU-ipiMa,  "carries water'! Great blue heron mokcuni,  a term that mimics the low coarse croaks of the bird- American bittern iJM.p\u>'iiii-i natoil,   "pointing beak to the sun"; natolp-LIUi'i,  "sacred bird'.' Swan Imikaoi,  "going home"; ki-ikomakad,  "white going home", referring to migrations.