THE OPOSSUM. 493 
THERE are very few of the marsupiated animals which are more remarkable for their 
form, their habits, or their character, than the Opossums of America. They are nearly 
all admirable climbers, and are assisted in their scansorial efforts by their long, prehensile 
tails, which are covered with scales, through the interstices of which a few “short black 
hairs protrude. The hinder feet are also well adapted for climbing, as the thumb is 
opposable to the other toes, so that the animal is able to grasp the branch of a tree 
with considerable force, and to suspend its whole 
body together with the additional weight of its 
prey or its young. 
The VIRGINIAN, or ComMON OPoOssuUM, is, as its 
name implies, a native of Virginia as well as of 
many other portions of the United States of 
America. In size it equals a tolerably large cat, 
being rather more than three feet in total length, 
the head and body measuring twenty-two inches, 
and the tail fifteen. The colour of this animal is 
a greyish-white, slightly tinged with yellow, and 
diversified by occasional long hairs that are white 
towards their base, but of a brownish hue towards 
their points. These brown-tipped hairs are ex- 
tremely prevalent upon the limbs, which are almost 
wholly of the brown hue, which also surrounds 
the eye to some extent. The under fur is com- 
paratively soft and woolly, but the general character 
of the fur is harsh and coarse. The scaly portion 
of the tail is white. 
It isa voracious and destructive animal, prowling 
about during the hours of darkness, and prying 
into every nook and corner in hope of finding 
something that may satisfy the cravings of im- 
perious hunger. Young birds, eggs, the smaller 
quadrupeds, ‘such as young rabbits, which it eats 
by the brood at a time, cotton rats, and mice, 
reptiles of various kinds, and insects, fall victims 
to the appetite of the Virginian Opossum, which 
is often not content with the food which it finds 
in the open forests, but must needs insinuate itself 
into the poultry-yard and make a meal on the 
fowls and their eggs. When it has once deter- 
mined on making such a raid, it can hardly be 
baffled in its endeavours by any defences except 
those which consist of stout walls and closely 
fitting doors ; for it can climb over any ordinary 
wall, or thrust itself through any fence, so that OPOSSUM.—Didelphys Virginidna. 
there is but little chance of preventing it from 
making good its entrance into the precincts of 
the farmyard. 
Its proceedings are so admirably related by Audubon, that I can do no better than 
present the account in his own words, the words of one who has frequently been an 
eye-witness of the scene which he so graphically depicts :— 
“ Methinks I see one at this moment slowly and cautiously trudging over the melting 
snows by the side of an unfrequented pond, nosing as it goes for the fare its ravenous 
appetite prefers. Now it has come upon the fresh “track of a grouse or hare, and it raises 
its snout and sniffs the pure air. At length it has decided on its course, and it speeds 
onwards at the rate of a man’s ordinary walk. It stops and seems at a loss in what 
