3S4 THE V1RGINIA.N OPOSSUM. 



but in recompence for this apparent defect, it is able 

 to ascend trees with the utmost facihty and expedi- 

 tion ; in which situation, by the help of its prehen- 

 sile tail, it is more active than most quadrupeds. It 

 hunts eagerly after birds and their nests ; and is very 

 destructive to poultry, of which it sucks the blood 

 without eating the flesh. It also eats roots and wild 

 fruits*. 



When it is pursued and overtaken, it will feign it- 

 self dead, till the danger is over: and, if we may 

 believe the account of Du Pratz, it will not when 

 seized in this condition, exhibit any signs of life, 

 though even placed on a red-hot iron ; and when 

 there are any young in the pouch of a female, she 

 will suffer hotli herself and them to be roasted alive 

 rather than give them up. These creatures never 

 move till their assailant is either gone to a distance* 

 or has hidden himself; on which they endeavour to 

 scramble, with as much expedition as possible, into 

 some hole or bush -j-. 



They are very tenacious of life In North Caro- 

 lina it is a well-known adage, '*' If a Cat has nine 

 lives, the Opossum has nineteen :|:." 



When the female is about to litter, she chooses a 

 place in the thick bushes, at the foot of some tree. 

 Assisted by the male, she then collects together, a 

 quantity of fine dry grass ; this is loaded upon her 

 belly, and the male drags her and her burthen to 

 the nest, by her tail §. She produces from four to 



* Cluirch. + Uu I'rutz, 2Gi. % Biickcll, I'2:i.— T.av.-son, 1^0 

 ■v Du Pi at/, 'iGj. 



