THE OPOSSUM. 43 



gome nights you may beat the wood through and scarcely 

 find any, while on another night you will perhaps find 

 dozens in the same trees; but on damp nights they are 

 sure to be out. When the moon only gives a doubtful 

 light, they are not easy to see, especially in the thick 

 trees ; the only plan then is to get the tree well between 

 you and the moon, and run your eye along each limb in 

 the moon's rays. The ears of the opossum sticking up 

 will often betray it, for they sit very still, doubled up on 

 the branch, often in a cleft. When the night was clear 

 and the trees bare, I never cared to have a dog with me ; 

 for let it be ever so well broken, a dog will have an 

 occasional snap at the opossum on the ground, unless 

 it falls stone dead ; and the least blemish on the back 

 spoils the skin. The shooter must be careful how he 

 handles a wounded opossum. Hawker says, in his 

 Instructions to Sportsmen : " Beware of a wounded 

 coot, it will scratch you like a cat." I can say the same 

 of a wounded opossum ; and I have seen one fasten on a 

 dog so tightly with its teeth as to be with difficulty 

 shaken off. A pea-rifle is better than a gun to shoot 

 opossums with, but be sure to take them in the head, or 

 the bullet-hole will spoil the skin. The most I ever 

 shot in one night was at a place called the " Banging 

 Water-holes," near Dandenong : the trees were old and 

 bare ; the night still and clear. I killed ninety-three. This 

 was an unusual occurrence ; but a man may always with 

 little trouble kill a dozen on any night in the forests where 

 the opossums are at all thick. 



