No. 491] NOTES AND LITERATURE 



725 



side of the cage, keeping him close to her side. The father was per- 

 mitted to share the cage, but never made any attempt to harm his 

 offspring. On the other hand, he showed no affection for him. 

 From the very beginning the baby displayed the brick-dust red of the 

 father. As is well known, it is no unusual sight, when a herd of 

 kangaroos is feeding, to see the head of the baby protruding from the 

 mouth of the pouch, nibbling grass. I have seen the young eating in 

 this way in captivity. 



W. H. Sheak. 



A Note of the Prairie-dog Owl which resembles the Rattlesnake's 

 Rattle.— In the summer of 1904 a party of fossil hunters, with four 

 horses (two under the saddle and two hitched to the wagon), was 

 trailing across Wyoming, at the time following up Bridger Creek, a 

 tributary of Bad Water River. As they were moving along an old 

 fence, under and to either side of which were numerous prairie-dog 

 holes, mostly deserted, suddenly a "rattle" caused all four horses 

 to shy out of the road. The saddle horses were brought back, and 

 their riders searched through the low sage bushes and grass for the 

 rattlesnake to kill it. A second warning followed and a prairie-dog 

 owl rose, flying to a fence post some ten feet away, where it alighted 

 and began a third "rattle," and this time all saw its stretched neck, 

 bulging eyes, open beak and vibrating tongue. The whole appear- 

 ance of the bird indicated assurance that it would thus frighten off 

 any enemy; and it certainly deceived the four plains-bred horses, 

 as well as the men, all of whom had for weeks been familiar with 

 rattlesnakes, and two of them for years. The writer has often been 

 startled by the ratde of the dry lupine pods, known as "rattle weeds," 

 but horses are not so deceived. However they were clearly frightened 

 by the owl. 



The usual note of the burrowing or prairie-dog owl, Speotyio euni- 

 cularm (Mol), is generally described as a squawk, and is not unlike 

 qua-qua-qua-qua, with variations in the last part. Generally the bird 

 is silent, uttering its note only when startled. The unusual rattle of 

 the individual described was heard rejieatedly, for we camped about a 

 mile above the prairie-dog holes, and each succeeding day for over a 

 week some or all of the party passed the spot. The owl never failed 

 to warn with its ratde and the horse or horses, no matter how tired, 

 never failed to shy out of the road, — never having associated the rattle 

 with the owl. After ten days the party moved camp and no more was 

 seen of the owl. but it doubtless kept on ratding and deceiving animals 



