20 ANIMALS AT WORK AND PLA Y 



foot is thus at the same time a face - sponge and 

 brush, and the rough tongue combs the rest of 

 the body. Hares also use their feet to wash their 

 faces, and the hare's foot is so suitable for a brush 

 that it is always used to apply the ' paint ' to the 

 face for the stage. One of the most charming 

 pets we have kept, and the most particular as to 

 washing and brushing its feet and fur, was a lovely 

 brown opossum from Tasmania. 'Sooty phalanger' 

 was, we believe, its scientific name ; it was covered 

 with deep rich brown fur, had a face something 

 like a fox, a pink nose, hands with a nailless 

 thumb, and long claws on the fingers. It washed 

 its feet every two or three minutes, and would pay 

 the same attention to the ear, hair, or hands of 

 anyone on whose shoulder it was allowed to sit. 

 Once having upset a bottle of turpentine over its 

 hands, it almost fretted to death because it could 

 not remove the scent. Oddly enough, it would, 

 if possible, retire during the day to a chimney, 

 which it perhaps took for a hollow tree, and did 

 not object to the soot in its fur, perhaps consider- 

 ing it 'clean dirt/ as children do earth. Water- 

 rats are very clean animals, and wash and brush 

 their faces with the greatest care.' We saw one 

 this summer on a pond at Welling, in Kent, swim 

 out to pick up the blossoms of an acacia, which 



