Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) a mule, a donkey.

1892		L.A. Times 9 Dec. 11/3: Water [...] is [...] packed in on jacks — desert canaries — (of which we are blest in superabundance).
1905		Outing 41 226/2: THE DESERT CANARY What they call the ‘Desert Canary’ down in Arizona bears not the slightest resemblance to a canary, is not a bird even, but a little long-eared donkey.
1909		L.A. Herald 9 Sept. 2/2: She pointed out two passive burros. ‘Are these the mocking birds?’ asked the officer. ‘Yes [...] but some people call them desert canaries’.
1916		Goodwin’s Wkly (Salt lake City, UT) 25 Nov. 11/2: ‘Smokey’ was a burro and [...] an incurable drunkard. He would shove open the swinging doors of the thirst parlors, walk up to the bar, bum a ‘shot of booze’. He [...] probably was the only desert canary in the world with these human-like habits.
1920		Wkly Jrnl-Miner (Prescott, AZ) 30 June 1/3: Desert canaries [...] all covered up with huge piles of wood, nothing but their heads and a scrawny tail showing.
1936		R.F. Adams Cowboy Lingo 202: Mules were called ‘hard tails’ or ‘knob heads,’ and burros ‘desert canaries.’.
1949		D. Emrich It’s an Old Wild West Custom 190: Jokingly referred to as the ‘desert canary’ [...] the little burro was, nevertheless, the forerunner of all transportation on the desert and in the high mountain gulches [DARE].
1968		R.F. Adams Western Words (2nd edn) 92/1: Desert canary A westerner’s name for a burro.
1971		E.S. Bright Word Geography of Calif. and Nevada 113: Desert canary (bird). [... a burro or small donkey.] [DARE].
2002		News (Apache Jnct., AZ) 14–21 Oct. 🌐 Goldfield Ghost Town will host the Superstition Mountain Mule Rendezvous on Saturday, March 9 and 10 beginning at 9 a.m. and the event will feature the braying ‘desert canary’ at it’s best.

(N.Z. prison) an officer in charge of drug detection dogs.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 55/1: Desert Fox n. the officers who handle the narcotics detection dogs.

see cottonmouth n. (1)

1. one who lives in the desert, esp. a prospector working there.

1905		S.F. Call 11 Oct. 5/2: Walter Scott, the Death valley miner [...] entered a store in time to hear the salesman say: ‘Yes! I have some shoes for you desert rats’.
1914		B.T. Harvey ‘Addenda – The Northwest’ in DN IV:ii 163: desert rat, n. A roving prospector for gold. ‘Near the poison springs we came upon a desert rat, whose bleaching bones witnessed his lust for gold.’.
1923		O.O. McIntyre New York Day by Day 1 June [synd. col.] A famous old ‘desert rat’ who had been investigator of many booms around Toniopah in the old days.
1936		R.F. Adams Cowboy Lingo 200: A veteran prospector of the desert country [...] was often spoken of as a ‘desert rat’.
1944		N. Davis Sally’s in the Alley 12: Dust-Mouth is an old-time desert rat. He’s been prowling around in the Mojave for forty years.
1957		Kerouac On The Road (1972) 83: Old desert rats, carrying packs and heading for a park bench.
1957		D. Niland Call Me When the Cross Turns Over (1958) 28: Come on, desert-head.
1960, 1975		Wentworth & Flexner DAS.
1985		J. Wambaugh Secrets of Harry Bright (1986) 12: The desert rat creaked to his feet.
1990		J. Wambaugh Golden Orange (1991) 135: One a those down-home places where the desert rats hang out.

2. a native of the southwestern states.

1978

Maledicta II:1+2 (Summer/Winter) 156: Desert rat Any rural American Southwesterner, used with pride by desert rats themselves.