A SLOW TRAVELLER. 249 



fox, but an amble or pace, moving the two legs 

 on one side at a time. Its walk on the ground 

 is plantigrade, resting the whole heel on the 

 earth. When pursued, it by no means stops at 

 once and feigns death, as has often been sup- 

 posed, but goes forward at a rather slow speed, 

 it is true, but as fast as it is able, never, that we 

 are aware of, increasing it to a leap or canter, 

 but striving to avoid its pursuers by sneaking 

 ojff to some thicket or briar patch ; when, how- 

 ever, it discovers that the dog is in close pursuit, 

 it flies for safety to the nearest tree, usually a 

 sapling, and unless molested does not ascend to 

 the top, but seeks an easy resting place in some 

 crotch not twenty feet from the ground, where it 

 waits silently and immcveably, till the dog, find- 

 ing that his master will not come to his aid, and 

 becoming weary of barking at the foot of the 

 tree, leaves the opossum to follow the bent of 

 his inclinations, and conclude his nightly round 

 in search of food. Although a slow traveller, 

 the opossum, by keeping perseveringly on foot 

 during the greater part of the night, hunts over 

 much ground, and has been known to make a 

 circle of a mile or two in one night. Its ranges, 

 however, appear to be restricted or extended ac- 

 cording to its necessities, as when it has taken 

 up its residence near a corn field, or a clump of 

 ripe persimmon trees, the v/ants of nature are 



