MAMMALS OF AUSTRALIA 199 



encompass the destruction of the innocent little Marsupial. It is 

 very cruel, but it is looked upon as "great fun " by the thoughtless 

 sportsmen ( ?), and it is unlikely that while an Opossum remains in 

 the bush "mooning " will cease. 



The tail of the Opossum is highly prehensible, and of great 

 service to the animal in its progress through the tree-tops. The 

 'Possum shooters are sometimes baulked of their prey; for the 

 stricken creature in falling may twist its tail round a branch, and it 

 will stiffen there in death, so that the animal remains hanging far 

 out of reach. The Opossum is a most agile little creature, and it 

 is delightful to watch them playing about the white boles of the 

 gum-trees in the moonlight. At whiles they will pause on a bare 

 branch, silhouetted against the moon's bright disc, and making a 

 conspicuous mark for a gunner below. The methods adopted in 

 trapping the Opossum are singularly cruel. The trapper searches 

 for a "'Possum tree," which is known by the marks of the claws 

 on the trunk, the "blazed trail" of the Marsupial; a noose is fixed 

 near the fork, so that the 'Possum coming down its accustomed 

 track will poke its head into the fatal circle, and in attempting to 

 escape tighten the noose and hang itself. When the noose is 

 clumsily fixed the unfortunate captive may be only half strangled, 

 and hang in agony all through the hours of darkness ; its pain ends 

 with the dawn, when the trapper comes and hits it on the head with 

 a stick. 



The Common Opossum is easily domesticated, and is not difficult 

 to rear. But the intelligence of these Marsupials is not on a high 

 scale, and although they become very tame and affectionate, it is 

 rare to see a captive 'Possum that can perform any of those engaging 

 tricks which animal-lovers are so fond of training their pets to 

 perform. 



But as half-tame pets the Opossums are delightful. In a country 

 farmhouse once tenanted by the writer, the occupants obtained much 

 pleasure and amusement from the Opossums which lived in the 

 spreading branches of three old Moreton Bay fig-trees which 

 shadowed the roof. At night the 'Possums would come down on to 

 the roof and have fine revels in the moonlight. We could hear them 

 thumping about, and those in the branches would drop the figs 

 upon which they were feeding, the fruit pattering down like hail- 

 stones. On one occasion a too venturesome animal climbed the 

 chimney-stack, and in poking its inquisitive pink-tipped nose into 



