152 The Mammals of Colorado 
and the burrowing owl {Speotyto cunicularia hypogcea) with 
the Prairie Dog in the same burrow is now discredited. 
There seems to be no doubt, however, that the rattle- 
snake does feed on young Prairie Dogs, and it is further re- 
lated by a writer {American Field, p. 194, Mar. 11, 1899) 
that the snakes are mortally afraid of being entombed by 
Prairie Dogs. If the mother of young dogs on her return to the 
burrow finds that a snake has intruded she at once sets up a 
peculiar cry or bark. At once the neighbors respond and 
gather about the hole and set to work to fill it up, packing 
and butting down the earth with such vigor at the mouth 
of the hole that it is soon as hard as the adjacent prairie. 
I was told the same thing myself when in Baca County but 
had no opportunity to verify it. 
As to the owls, they make use of the deserted burrows 
for nesting sites, but they would hardly venture into an 
occupied one since the Prairie Dogs would be quite a good 
match for them; the owls are just as likely to be found in an 
abandoned dog-town as in an inhabited one. 
The other enemies of the Prairie Dog are the coyote, which 
lies in wait for them on their exit from their burrows; the 
badger, which diligently digs them out, and which, if the 
ranchmen in the dog-infested regions were alive to their 
own interests, would never be killed; and the black-footed 
ferret, which pursues them into their burrows. 
Prairie Dogs, if captured when young, are easily tamed 
and make great pets. The one shown in the illustration 
was taken when quite small, and after a day or two in captivity 
made no attempt to escape when turned loose out-of-doors, 
but would follow one all around. It was given its liberty, 
and took up its abode on the place, living in a hole, but 
would come to the house to be fed. For some reason it 
disappeared for a month or so, but reappeared, and was 
as sociable as ever. This was in a locality where the winters 
