68 
DISSIMILAR TASTES. 
feet when they hear a noise, and, with a quick 
turn or two of their heads, have taken in the 
whole situation, and give out their verdict in a 
few decisive, sharp little barks, accompanying 
each with a very emphatic jerky gesture of the 
tail ; and then, before one has thought of firing, 
if they have malicious designs upon them, are 
gone. 
Nothing could be more unlike than the tastes, 
habits, everything about them, and the owls ; 
and Dr. Coues and some other naturalists, who 
are always prying into such matters, do assert 
that the relations between them are not such as 
should exist in a family. 
They hint darkly of the most terrible things, 
such as dinners made of baby dogs, by both 
snakes and owls, and of tragedies I can’t think 
of repeating here ! However, I never lived in 
the family, and really have no right to speak of 
their private affairs. I do know Mrs. Maxwell 
shot one of the owls, and, what was more to her 
purpose, secured it before it was lost in one of the 
holes into which they are always ready to drop ; 
and that she mounted him, looking, as one of her 
friends said, “ as though what he didn’t know, 
was not worth knowing.” 
Aside from the owls and prairie dogs, they saw 
no object of interest until afternoon, when they 
came to one of the small streams that flow into 
