

VERTE1MIATA. 



. 



Tin: OPOSSUM AND HEU YOUNG ONES. 



are able to move about. At the age of four weeks they occasionally leave the nipple and may be 

 peeping oul of their sack ; a week afterward they venture forth, but keep close to the mother, 

 and hold on to her by their tails. Sometimes with a dozen young ones of the size of rats, thus 

 clinging around her legs, neck and body, and some of them dragging along on the ground, she 

 may be oing about in search of food. At this age these animals are pretty. They remain 



with the mother till about two mouths old ; they then learn to take care of themselves, but con- 

 tinue in the vicinity, seeming still to be under maternal guardianship in a certain degree. Mean- 





CRAB-EATING OI'O.-ol M. 



■ another breed is produced, and during the season a third, and some of all these maybe seen 



once with tlnir prolific parent. In winter, if the climate is cold, the opossums become sluggish, 



not torpid like the woodchuck. Tiny are common in all the Southern and Southwestern 



ind in California and Mexico. They are also found in the Middle States as far north as 



Pennsylvania, and sometimes in New Jersey. 



the only animal of the kind known in the United States; in South America there are 



