WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



them to water and wash them well before eating 

 them. 



"It is pleasant/' says Rowland Robinson, "to 

 see the tracks of this midnight prowler, this de- 

 spoiler of cornfields, imprinted in the mud of 

 the lane or along the soft margin of the brook, 

 to know that he survives, though he may not 

 be fittest. When he has gone forever, those 

 who outlive him will know whether it was his 

 quavering note that jarred the still air of the 

 early fall evenings, or if it was only the voice of 

 the owl." 



The opossum, too, is a woodland animal, rather 

 less nocturnal than the 'coon, and, like him, fond 

 of fruit and insects and crabs; but he has neither 

 the strength nor cleverness that enable his larger 

 companion to get so varied a fare. He is smaller 

 than the 'coon, about twice as big as a rat, and 

 shaped much like one, which he further resembles 

 in having a long, naked tail. The prolonged, 

 flexible nose and the tail, however, are pinkish 

 white, and the latter has the prehensile quality of 

 some monkeys' and snakes' tails, curling round 

 any support at the tip so firmly that the creature 

 can hang and swing by it, thus giving it a fifth 

 hand. It is a queer, whitey-gray, antique-look- 



16 



