The Fur Animals of Louisiana 37 



careful not to eat it; it neatly places it in a fine uncovered 

 place near some large trees; then climbs into that tree &, 

 hanging by its tail to the branch which is nearest the 

 bird, it patiently waits thus until some flesh-eating bird 

 should come to carry it off. Then it pounces upon it and 

 makes a prey of both the one and of the other." (Needless 

 to add, this trait or method of securing prey is 1753 imag- 

 ination but it probably sounded thrilling to the gay Paris- 

 iannes of that period.) 



"The female of this animal is none the less admirable 

 for the manner in which she feeds & raises her young," 

 M. Dumont goes on to tell us, and what he says in his 

 account should be compared to the matter set down in the 

 chapter on the opossum on page 77. "I might even say 

 that she has a double belly, since under her belly she has 

 a kind of pocket, which seems to serve as such, and which 

 is formed by two membranes so strongly attached one to 

 the other that it is impossible to separate them without 

 tearing them; the mother alone can open them when she 

 pleases. 



"It is there that, after she has brought forth, she 

 places her young, who, clinging to her dugs, are nourished 

 with her milk, and grow in a sure shelter, where it is al- 

 ways warm ; upon seeing the animal in that state, one 

 would be tempted to think that she was still with young. 

 As soon as the young are strong enough to come out and 

 run on the grass, the mother lets them out, so that they 

 may fetch upon the ground some worms to feast on. Should 

 she hear some noise or some suspicious movement, she 

 utters a certain cry, and upon hearing that signal which is 

 known to them, the little ones are seen running to their 

 mother and entering her body from which they have is- 

 sued. When one of these mothers is killed in that state, 

 the pocket opens of itself, and the little ones come out. They 

 are then rather pretty, and not much larger than the rats 

 in France. The skin of these animals is not much thought 

 of, no use is made of it." (M. Dumont would probably be 

 interested in knowing that the pelts of opossums are worth 



