THE OPOSSUM. 



493 



THERE are very few of the marsupiated animals which are more remarkable for 

 their form, their habits, or their character, than the Opossums of America. They are 

 nearly all admirable climbers, and are assisted in their scansorial efforts by their long, 

 prehensile tails, which are covered with scales, through the interstices of which a few 

 short black hairs protrude. The hinder feet are also well adapted for climbing, as the 

 thumb is opposable to the other toes, so that the animal is able to grasp the branch 

 of a tree with considerable force, and to suspend 

 its whole body together with the additional 

 weight of its prey or its young. 



The VIRGINIAN, or COMMON OPOSSUM, is, as 

 its name implies, a native of Virginia as well as 

 of many other portions of the United States of 

 America. In size it equals a tolerably large cat, 

 being rather more than three feet in total length, 

 the head and body measuring twenty-two inches, 

 and the tail fifteen. The color of this animal is 

 a grayish-white, slightly tinged with yellow, and 

 diversified by occasional long hairs that are 

 white towards their base, but of a brownish hue 

 towards their points. These brown-tipped hairs 

 are extremely prevalent upon the limbs, which 

 are almost wholly of the brown hue, which also 

 surrounds the eye to some extent. The under 

 fur is comparatively soft and woolly, but the 

 general character of the fur is harsh and coarse. 

 The scaly portion of the tail is white. 



It is a voracious and destructive animal, 

 prowling about during the hours of darkness, 

 and prying into every nook and corner in hope 

 of finding something that may satisfy the crav- 

 ings of imperious hunger. Young birds, eggs, 

 the smaller quadrupeds, such as young rabbits, 

 which it eats by the brood at a time, cotton rats, 

 and mice, reptiles of various kinds, and insects, 

 fall victims to the appetite of the Virginia Opos- 

 sum, which is often not content with the food 

 which it finds in the open forests, but must 

 needs insinuate itself into the poultry-yard and 

 make a meal on the fowls and their eggs. When 

 it has once determined on making such a raid, 

 it can hardly be baffled in its endeavors by any 

 defences except those which consist of stout 

 walls and closely fitting doors ; for it can climb 

 over any ordinary wall, or thrust itself through 

 any fence, so that there is little chance of pre- 

 venting it from making good its entrance into 

 the precincts of the farmyard. 



Its proceedings are so admirably related by Audubon, that I can do no better than 

 present the account in his own words, the words of one who has frequently been an 

 eye-witness of the scene which he so graphically depicts : 



" Methinks I see one at this moment slowly and cautiously trudging over the melting 

 snows by the side of an unfrequented pond, nosing as it goes for the fare its ravenous 

 appetite prefers. Now it has come upon the fresh track of a grouse or hare, and it raises 

 its snout and sniffs the pure air. At length it has decided on its course, and it speeds 

 onwards at the rate of a man's ordinary walk. It stops and seems at a loss in what 



OPOSSUM. -Dldelphys Virginians. 



