DOES THE OPOSSUM PLAY '" 'POSSUM"? 85 



extended ancestry, they have not acquired some small 

 degree of intelligence; but this they do not appear to 

 have done. They pass their days in a happy-go-lucky 

 manner, and, if they reach old age, it is through good 

 luck more than good management. 



The habits of the opossum may be thus summed up : 

 Choosing a hollow tree, one in which a whole family can 

 live, or a hole in a hill-side, w T hich they do not alter and 

 seldom dig for themselves, they sleep much of their 

 time ; and when they occasionally wander about for food 

 it is generally at night, especially if it be moonlight, 

 though sometimes they go in broad daylight. They ap- 

 pear to have no marked predilection for any one kind of 

 food, and exercise no ingenuity in procuring it, being as 

 apt to seize a chicken if it comes in the way, during the 

 day, as to stealthily attack a hen-roost after sundown. 

 One peculiarity, indeed, I have twice witnessed. This 

 was the tearing apart of a very soft, decayed log, and the 

 capture of a nest of large black ants. In a bungling way 

 they imitated the ant-eaters, and licked up with the tongue 

 the ants and their larvae, but they seemed to swallow 

 more rotten wood than insects. If so, the wood, I im- 

 agine, would make a very unpalatable if not an indigest- 

 ible meal. 



Unlike our other mammals, the opossums have no spe- 

 cial fear of man, and make no effort to avoid him. Dur- 

 ing autumn, especially, they wander about by day in the 

 most unconcerned manner. Frequently I have met them 

 in narrow wood-paths, with a safe cover on either side, 

 but, instead of beating a retreat, they have stopped to see 

 if I would get out of their way. Of dogs they have 

 some fear, however, and will shuffle off if they see or 

 hear one ; but even then they frequently only climb a 

 short distance up a tree, and remain in full view. 



