76 WILD NEIGHBORS CHAP. 



grass for its nest and takes it home in a bundle or 

 thick wisp, grasped in the curled-up extremity of 

 its strongly prehensile tail. Gould illustrates this 

 in his monograph on the Macropodidae ; and re- 

 marks that, " as may be easily imagined, their ap- 

 pearance, when leaping toward their nests with 

 their tails loaded with grasses, is exceedingly 

 amusing." 



Referring again, for a moment, to the suggestion 

 that the tail in the large wallabies, and creatures of 

 similar proportions, is useful as a balancing-pole, it 

 may be added that a similar explanation has been 

 offered for the long tails that characterize most of 

 the mice, especially those like the zapus and jerboa 

 that are powerful leapers ; at any rate, the service 

 of a balancing-pole is unquestionably performed by 

 the tails of many climbing and jumping mammals, 

 and by all birds, as can be well seen in the act of 

 alighting. As for the tufts common at the ends of 

 many of the long-tailed mice, etc., it has been said 

 that that was an extra advantage in the same direc- 

 tion, comparable to the string of knotted papers 

 that boys attach to their kites. 



Another quaint explanation of the tufted and 

 brush-tipped tails will be noticed farther on. 



To many tree-haunting animals, such as the 

 opossum, the South American forest monkeys, and 

 some others, the tail has been modified into a most 

 effective instrument for grasping and holding on, 

 even in sleep, by the acquirement of what is called 



