I sent some of the discussion regarding Shawnee and Daniel Boone to Fred Shaw (aka Neeake, Shawnee Storyteller) and asked for his thoughts. Steve, I sent your message to a Shawnee elder is who well-versed in our language. He does not know of such a word as "kind messenger" as applied to a bird. He said that the raucous call of the blue jay often was taken as a warning, but that doesn't fit the bird being unusual in the area. One thought that I have is that it may have been an introduced species. For instance, honey bees were called "white men's flies" and were seen as a sign of impending trouble since it meant that the settlers were moving into the area. Could that be true of an introduced bird from England that was moving into the area? Hence, another warning that the world was being changed, and not in our favor. I wish I could be of more help. Fred ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]