Wears White Feathers on His Head (Mâcûskakerega) is an unusual spirit who has come to earth on more than one occasion to help people in distress. His name, "Wears White Feathers on His Head," is what the spirits of the Upper World call him; those of the Lower World call him, "Wears Sparrows for a Coat." They called him this on account of his very peculiar wrap, a coat made entirely of living sparrows. Whenever he took his coat off and began to shake it, the sparrows would birst into boisterous song. On his head he wore at least one pure white feather, and as part of his headdress, he wore a living loon. The white feathers were symbolic of the fact that he is chief of the white cranes.

He is always associated with an old man who is said to be his grandfather. As a spirit, the old man is a hîdja owl. One of his brothers is a kind of forked tailed bird, but when he is an anthropomorphic form he has two upper torsos joined at the waist. Thus he is known as the "Forked Man." They are akin to the Tcarutcge, "Head Eaters," and they all wage ceaseless war against the small creatures of the earth, like mice, lizards, and snakes. Nevertheless, Wears Sparrows for a Coat is associated particularly with the squirrel. When his enemies are trying to shoot a squirrel from the trees through which it is running, only he is able to knock it down. When he contests unnamed opponents, he is able to change himself into a squirrel to avoid being catapulted by the trees upon which his opponents place him at the beginning of their foot race. However, as a water bird chief he is associated with the realm of the Waterspirits. His son whom he had with a Waterspirit woman, was taken in his youth as an offering to his mother's sister, who seized him as he walked along the water's edge. When Wears Sparrows for a Coat died in his mortal form, he too went to the Spiritland of the Waterspirits. [1]

Links: The Forked Man, Crane, Bird Spirits, Owls, Loons, The Cave of Herok'a, Waterspirits, Bears, Beavers.

Stories: about Wears White Feathers (Wears Sparrows for a Coat): Wears White Feathers on His Head, Old Man and White Feathers; in which the Forked Man is a character: The Red Man, Chief of the Herok'a, The Spirit of Gambling, Wears White Feathers on His Head; featuring cranes as characters: How the Thunders Met the Nights, Bladder and His Brothers (v. 1), Wears White Feathers on His Head; mentioning loons: Old Man and White Feathers, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, Îtcorúcika and His Brothers, Great Walker's Medicine, The Raccoon Coat; in which owls are mentioned: Crane and His Brothers, The Spirit of Gambling, He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, The Chief of the Herok'a, Partridge's Older Brother, Warughápara, Wears White Feathers on His Head, Old Man and White Feathers, The Green Man; about Bird Spirits: Crane and His Brothers, The King Bird, Bird Origin Myth, Wears White Feathers on His Head, Old Man and White Feathers, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, The Thunderbird, The Boy Who Became a Robin, Partridge's Older Brother, The Woman who Loved Her Half-Brother, The Foolish Hunter, Ocean Duck, Earthmaker Sends Rucewe to the Twins, The Quail Hunter, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Hotcâk Arrival Myth, Trickster Gets Pregnant, Trickster and the Geese, Holy One and His Brother (blackbirds, woodpeckers, hawks), Porcupine and His Brothers (Ocean Sucker), Turtle's Warparty (Thunderbirds, eagles, kaghi, pelicans, sparrows), The Dipper (Thunderbirds, kingfishers, hummingbirds, black hawks), Kaghíga and Lone Man (kaghi), The Old Man and the Giants (kaghi, bluebirds), The Bungling Host (snipe, woodpecker), The Red Feather, Eagle Clan Origin Myth, Trickster, the Wolf, the Turtle, and the Meadow Lark, Warughápara, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, Black and White Moons, The Markings on the Moon, The Creation Council, He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, Earthmaker Blesses Wagícega (Wecgícega), Hare Acquires His Arrows, Hotcâk Clans Origin Myth, Wonághire Wâkcik Clan Origin Myth, The Hotcâk Migration Myth, Blue Jay, The Baldness of the Buzzard, The Abduction and Rescue of Trickster (turkey buzzard), The Shaggy Man (blackbirds), The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth (blackbirds), Redhorn's Sons (Thunderbirds, snowbirds), Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, Îtcorúcika and His Brothers (Loon), Great Walker's Medicine (loon), Roaster (woodsplitter), The Spirit of Gambling, The Big Stone (a partridge), Trickster's Anus Guards the Ducks, The Green Man (owls), The Journey to Spiritland (v. 4) -- see also Thunderbirds, and the sources cited there; mentioning squirrels: Turtle's Warparty, Wears White Feathers on His Head, Porcupine and His Brothers; in which Waterspirits occur as characters: Waterspirit Clan Origin Myth, Traveler and the Thunderbird War, The Green Waterspirit of Wisconsin Dells, The Lost Child, River Child and the Waterspirit of Devil's Lake, Bluehorn's Nephews, Holy One and His Brother, The Seer, The Mulberry Picker, Brave Man, The Creation of the World (vv. 1, 4), The Waterspirit of Green Lake, The Waterspirit of Rock River, The Boulders of Devil's Lake, Old Man and White Feathers, Îtcorúcika and His Brothers, The Thunderbird, Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp (v. 2), The Two Children, The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty, Earthmaker Sends Rucewe to the Twins, Warughápara, The Girl who Refused a Blessing from "Disease-Giver," Ocean Duck, The Twin Sisters, Trickster Concludes His Mission, The King Bird, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, The Shaggy Man, The Woman who Married a Snake (?).

Genealogy: Chief of the White Cranes (+ Hîdja Owl Spirit, The Forked Man, the Tcarutcge)

Notes:

[1] Paul Radin, "Wears White Feathers on His Head," [unpublished] Winnebago Notebooks (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society Library) #4, pp. 1-50; Paul Radin, "Old Man and His Grandfather," [unpublished] Winnebago Notebooks (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society Library) #53, 1-107.