Roperite

The Roperite is a creature which traces is origins to the nineteenth-century lumberjack oral traditions of the developing United States.

Description
Variously described as some kind of featherless bird or the spirits of dead Spanish ranchmen, the Roperite is a truly unique creature which lives in and around California and Nevada. Resembling a kangaroo with an exceptionally tough hide and possessed of a tail similar to that of a rattlesnake, the Roperite’s most distinct feature is its long, flexible beak, which has all of the properties of a lasso, and which the creature uses to ensnare its prey after chasing it down; they are said to be capable of bursts of extreme speed which no other animal could ever hope to match.

It is unknown exactly how Roperites come into being, whether they are birthed live, hatch from great eggs, or simply spontaneously appear from out of some deep cavern.

Trivia

 * One A.B. Patterson of Hot Springs, California, is said to have been the last person to have sighted a Roperite in the early part of the twentieth century, although given the nature of this creature, this is likely a fictitious account.