every summer night you can hear them cry out incessantly,
"Mooninguggahgul," which cry is the call for the mosquitoes to answer
by coming out and buzzing in chorus. And as quickly the mosquitoes come
out in answer to the summons, the Mooninguggahgul bid them fly
everywhere and bite all they can.




25. BOUGOODOOGAHDAH THE RAIN BIRD



Bougoodoogahdah was all old woman who lived alone with her four hundred
dingoes. From living so long with these dogs she had grown not to care
for her fellow creatures except as food. She and the dogs lived on
human flesh, and it was her cunning which gained such food for them
all. She would sally forth from her camp with her two little dogs; she
would be sure to meet some black fellows, probably twenty or thirty,
going down to the creek. She would say, "I can tell you where there are
lots of paddy melons." They would ask where, and she would answer,
"Over there, on the point of that moorillah or ridge. If you will go
there and have your nullahs ready, I will go with my two dogs and round
them up towards you."

The black fellows invariably stationed themselves where she had told
them, and off went Bougoodoogahdah and her two dogs. But not to round
up the paddy melons. She went quickly towards her camp, calling softly,
"Birree, gougou," which meant "Sool 'em, sool 'em," and was the signal
for the dogs to come out. Quickly they came and surrounded the black