340 WESTERN/GRAZING GROUNDS AND FOREST RANGES 



that one of the common sights in a dog village is an owl, 

 generally one" of the small species, perched on top of the 

 dirt thrown out by the' dogs. Again, it is even more 

 true that many a rattler is found in the holes or prowling 

 about in the vicinity, of the villages. They are there, 

 however, not as welcome guests, but like the lion, "seek- 

 ing whom they may devour.." In this case it is the young 

 dogs they are after. Both rattlers and other snakes find 

 many a meal in the prairie dog holes, when the young 

 dogs are small enough to capture. 



Anothef venerable story about prairie dogs is the one 

 which endows them with the wisdom to watch a snake 

 crawl into a hole and then push dirt in the entrance with 

 their noses and thus seal his snakeship up in a tomb, 

 the victim of his own gluttony. I have carefully watched 

 a dog hole for hours to see if anything happened when 

 a rattler crawled lazily down into it. All that did happen 

 was the hasty scuttling out of the dogs which were 

 caught in the place and their taking up a position on 

 a nearby mound and hurling all sorts of unkind remarks 

 at their unwelcome visitor in their little piping voices. 

 As to any 'efforts made to secure revenge, there were 

 none, nor do I believe it was ever done. 



As for the water theory (and I have heard old-timers 

 vouch for its truth), there appears to be absolutely no 

 foundation for it. Prairie dogs use but little water. Like 

 rabbits, they secure what moisture they need from the 

 roots and grasses on which they feed, and can go for 

 days without any actual drinking. If one will only stop 

 to think one will recall many a village located on spots 

 where from the very nature of the country, an under- 

 lying layer of rock for instance, water could never be 

 found by even the most improved methods of well dig- 



