THE TRUE PHALANGERS. 89 
while the fur is longer and thicker; the general colour is rufous 
grey or deep umber-brown, and the ears have little or no 
white behind. The thick and bushy tail is almost entirely 
black. Length of head and body about 23 inches; of tail 15 
inches. 
Habits—The Common Phalanger, which may be compared 
In size with an ordinary Domestic Cat, is an inhabitant of the 
tallest trees of the Australian and Tasmanian forests, preferring 
gum-trees to all others, and selecting for its habitation those 
with a hollow trunk or arms, in the recesses of which it can 
pass the day securely wrapt in slumber. At night the Pha- 
langer leaves its lair to wander stealthily among the branches, 
upon the buds, fruits, and leaves of which it feeds. Occasion- 
ally these animals descend to the ground, perhaps in search of 
water ; and throughout these arboreal rambles they are much 
assisted in climbing by their highly prehensile tail, which is 
alone amply sufficient to support the weight of the body. In- 
deed, if a dying Opossum, in falling from the bough on which 
it is sitting, happens to catch its tail round another branch, it 
will die in that position, and there hang. Phalangers are more 
numerous in some localities than in others, and generally fre- 
quent the neighbourhood of water. In such favoured situations 
one or more of these animals will certainly be found, although 
it requires a practised eye to detect their presence in the shades 
of evening or by moonlight. The eye must then scan each 
bough with the moon behind it, when the upright ears of the 
Phalanger will often betray its presence as it lies stretched along 
the branch, or partially concealed in a cleft. During the pair- 
ing season, and less commonly at other times of the year, the 
Phalanger utters a loud chattering scream, which may be heard 
_ for a considerable distance through the silent forest. Breeding 
but once in the year, the female Phalanger usually produces 
but one young at a birth, which at first is of a reddish hue; but 
_ occasionally a pair may be found in the pouch. 
