90 RAMBLES ABOUT HOME. 



of dogs, its only enemy here except man, and yet after 

 an ineffectual resistance the same act is gone through 

 with when attacked by dogs as when captured by man. 

 It is a habit that militates against its safety, and could 

 never have been acquired in its present environment. 

 Speed, if exercised, would in many cases insure safety, and 

 the opossum can run when it chooses to make the effort. 

 That the supposed habit of feigning death was acquired 

 as a safeguard against pursuit by man solely, is absurd, 

 inasmuch as in this case it does not conduce to the safety 

 of the animal ; and to assert that any habit was acquired 

 solely as a means of guarding against the persecutions of 

 man, is to ascribe a very high grade of intelligence to 

 the most stupid living mammal. Whatever the origin of 

 the habit, if such it is, it can not be logically regarded as 

 voluntary. The brain of the opossum is too primitive to 

 have evolved this degree of cunning, forethought, and 

 contrivance. 



In order to test this supposed habit, I have sought out 

 their hiding-places, in numberless instances, and endeav- 

 ored to make them " show off " in this manner. In one 

 case, a large male opossum was captured in an ordinary 

 box-trap, set for rabbits. On lifting the lid of the 

 trap, the animal was found to be curled up into a 

 form as nearly globular as it was possible to assume. 

 Being disturbed, it slowly raised its head, opened its 

 mouth wide, but did not offer to bite, and in this posi- 

 tion it quietly awaited coming events. After some five 

 minutes of mutual staring, the opossum closed its mouth 

 and slowly restored its head to a more easy position, 

 and even closed one eye, as though the other was all 

 that was necessary to note what might occur. On be- 

 ing roughly handled and given several pushes with a 

 stick, it again opened wide its mouth and protested 



