m'CAULEY on birds of the red river of TEXAS. 681 



•dovicianus) was without its owlish sentinel. In many of them, they seemed 

 to outnumber the other inhabitants, the road south of the Cimarron being 

 still remembered for its large number of the birds. Their shyness seemed 

 to vary with the sun ; at midday or afternoon exceedingly wary gener- 

 ally ; in the early morning" the reverse. It may liave been a morning 

 nap, or a delusive idea that they aloue had eyes. Be that as it may, 

 before the sun was well up, they showed the utmost indifference to our 

 approach, and never movetl until we were almost upon them. It was 

 particularly so upon a damp or drizzly morning ; and as we drove by the 

 dog's town, we merely caught a glimpse of the hind legs and tail of the 

 dog himself scampering into his hole, intent upon the iiiterestsof his fam- 

 ily ; whilst nearer, upon a small sunflower or reed, perched the owl, as im- 

 movable as a supreme court judge. The owl was always apparently lost 

 in thought, had nothing to do in particular, and more time at his dis- 

 posal than anything else in the world, whilst the dog was always busy 

 and without a momeut to spare. The other member of the trio which 

 leads the traditional life of peace in the same dwelling, constituting the 

 ^' Happy Family " of the boundless prairie and the Far West, the Rattle- 

 snak'e (6Vof«i«s coiifiuentus)^ was also noted, often in their vicinity. The 

 oft-told tale of their social life having been related by distiuguished natu- 

 ralists, had always been received without the grain of allowance necessary 

 for snake stories, although an actual instance had never been met with. 

 Last spring, however, I witnessed an occurrence which showed that the 

 dogs and the snakes may be found in the same holes, whatever the 

 nature of their association may be. 



Marching along in Texas, near the Rio Grande, one day, through a 

 dog town, one of the finest of a pack of hounds belonging to Lieutenant 

 Goodwin, Ninth Cavalry, took after one of the dogs, that, perched on the 

 top of his mound, was barking in a manner peculiarly aggravating. The 

 hound of course got there a second too late— what was ever in time for a 

 prairie dog ? — but put his nose in the hole as far as. possible, and drew 

 forth a live rattlesnake. The column went on, but the poor hound was 

 left behind. 



AVe were upon the Staked Plain when the owlets were of just the size 

 for a delicious morsel ; the rattlesnakes were also plentiful, and, as I nat- 

 urally killed every one I met with, I made it a point to often examine to 

 see whether any of the young birds had fallen a prey to their uext-toom 

 neighbors, but without success. This, however, was not conclusive that 

 they .sometimes did not; merely that none had been detected in the act. 



Xo hole was examined to get down as far as the eggs, simply for want 

 of time; we frequently saw them apparently paired, at the same hole, 

 and, without doubt, niditication was in progress, from the general size 

 and age of young seen later. The number of eggs has been differently 

 stated, but, although variable, it must often be at least six, for I have 

 seen broods of as many yoang, well fledged, to which may be added possi- 

 bly one or more sacrificed to appease the hunger of the snakes, either as 



