The American indians have an interesting legend to explain how birds first grew feathers. It involves the turkey buzzard!

Apparently, back in the dawn of time, birds were naked without any feathers. This was both embarassing for them and also a bit chilly! They asked the Creator if they could please have something to cover up with. The Creator agreed, but said that the new clothing was far off and had to be fetched.

The Turkey Buzzard, a rather clean bird at the time, offered to do this for the birds. He raced off quickly, and instead of stopping to eat normally along the way, he just scavenged at whatever he found so as to not slow himself down.

When he got there, the Turkey Buzzard decided he should get the very best outfit for himself, since he had done all of the work. When the Creator saw this, he decided to teach the Turkey Buzzard a lesson. When the Turkey Buzzard got back home with his collection of coats, the Creator told them that they could all choose the coat they wished, but that the Turkey Buzzard would have to choose last.

The Turkey Buzzard was very disappointed and ended up with what he thought was a very ugly set of feathers. The Creator felt a bit sad at this, and gave the Turkey Buzzard the ability to soar through the clouds, so that he would still have enjoyment in life.

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