Roperite

thumb|300px|Fearsome critters 1910 - Roperite chasing prey">thumb|300px|Fearsome critters 1910 - Roperite chasing prey
thumb|Fearsome Critters (1939)">thumb|Fearsome Critters (1939)
thumb|Fearsome creatures - 2015.">thumb|Fearsome creatures - 2015.
The Roperite (Rhynchoropus flagelliformis) is a Fearsome Critters|fearsome critter recounted orally by the lumberjacks of North America during the 19<sup>th</sup> and early 20<sup>th</sup> centuries.

Description:
The Digger Indians told tales that it was the spirit of early Spanish ranchers, and blood-curdling are the tales they tell of hapless creatures pursued by the beast, snared with its marvelous rope-like beak, and dragged to death through thorny chaparral. No man or animal can hope to outrun it. It steps upon road-runners or kicks them out of the way, and no obstacle appears sufficient to stop its progress or even slacken its speed, as it seemingly half flies, half bounds across the rugged country which it inhabits. Its leathery skin is impervious to thorn and its flipper-legs uninjured by the sharpest rocks. 

Sightings
According to A. B. Patterson, of Hot Springs, California, who saw the last Roperite authentically reported, the animal has a large set of rattles on its tail, which it vibrates when in pursuit of game, thus producing a whirling sound like that of a giant rattler. The effect of this upon an animal closely pursued may be imagined. Lumbermen operating in the region between Pitt River and the southern end of the Sierras are urgently ]requesting to make every effort to secure a living specimen of the Roperite.

In Fearsome Creatures (2015) the Roperite is no longer extinct and has been drastically changed. The animal is now a web-footed flightless desert biped bird with horns and a modified mouth that is a lariat. The Roperite is the reincarnation of the cruelest Western rancher, José Maria Dominguez. José killed animals and humans who get in his way, but he was only trying to achieve his dream. But as of now José is now punished for his cruelty and became the Roperite. Science, however, gives a more clearer reason: When a male toad hatches a sow's egg under a gibbous moon, the Roperite is born. The Shar-Pei dog is immune to the monster's predations. Bullets can wound the bird. But Hueco Slim and his horse, Flaca, managed to defeat the Roperite by using one of Flaca's ribs to slice the bird's lariat in two, making the monster tear up. The scientific name is Malicius dominguesensis.

Further reading
[http://www.lib.lumberwoods.org/fclw/roperite "The Roperite" from Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods (1910) by William T. Cox]thumb|220x220px|Roperite">thumb|220x220px|Roperite[http://www.lib.lumberwoods.org/fc/roperite "The Roperite" from Fearsome Critters (1939) by Henry H. Tryon]


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