222 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



scales being black in the second third, and white at the tip in colour. The habits of this Opossum are 

 nocturnal, and it lies concealed by day in burrows in the ground or in thickets. At night it climbs 

 trees to feed upon fruits and birds' eggs. It will chase and catch sleeping birds, and suck their blood 

 like a Weasel. 



THE CRAB-EATING OPOSSUM.* 



A small Opossum, with a long black tail tipped with white, and a dull-coloured fur to its body, 

 lives in Brazil and Guiana, and has a very omnivorous disposition. Preferring swampy situations, 

 it lives mostly on the trees, hunts small birds and insects, and even catches a reptile now and then, 

 but its fondness for the Crustacea of the swamps is proverbial, and hence its name of Crab-eater. 



Another species is interesting from being found in the part of California which adjoins Mexico. 

 The Short-headed Opossum also belongs to this group, and is from the same locality. Besides these, 

 there are several smaller pouch-bearing Opossums, without the long hair of those just mentioned, and 

 they are from Brazil, Guiana, and Surinam for instance, the Quica, the Naked-tailed, and the Four 

 Spotted kinds. The Philander Opossum is a bird-hunter, and lives in Surinam. 



The next group of Opossums have no pouch, but there may be folds of the skin protecting the 

 mammae. 



THE THIOK-TAILED OPOSSUM, t 



As its name implies, this pouchless Opossum has a very thick tail. Moreover, it has smaller 

 ears than the other Opossums, and has a short head and short legs. The fur is made up of harsh 

 hairs, which are close to the body, and there is but little under fur. Its colour is yellow-brown, but 

 the eye and muzzle are brownish, and the tail, with the terminal two-thirds, is black, with the 

 exception of a small white spot at the end. It inhabits Brazil and Paraguay, and extends south- 

 wards to the River Plate. One of the Opossums was kept by D'Azara, who found it quiet, tame, 

 and stupid ; but having been fed on raw meat, and a parrot happening to come too close, it killed 

 the bird in a moment. There are folds of skin in the lower part of the abdomen, but no pouch, and 

 there are six mammae. 



Another of the Opossums is called Merian's Opossum, or Didelphys dorsigera, and it inhabits 

 Surinam. It was described by Madame Merian in 1717, who represented it in her great book on 



MERIAN'S OPOSSUM. 



insects with its young clustered on its back and hanging on to the mother's tail, which was curved 

 over its back, with their little tails. 



* Didelphys cancrivora, t Didelphys crassicaudatus. 



