72 The Opossum 



the fruit, which in a few weeks must render you so 

 temptingly fat ! " 'Simmon " time brings in '"possum " 

 time, and from many a cabin the melodious negro 

 voices, accompanied by banjo, accordion, or harmoni- 

 con, are heard singing : 



" 'Possum am a cunnin' thing, 

 He rambles in de dark, 

 Nothin' 'tall disturb his min' 

 But to hyah my bulldog bark, " 



The hunting of the opossum in the South is usually 

 done at night, the one important feature of the hunt 

 being a good opossum dog. The opossum will take 

 to a tree at the approach of the dog, and the dog 

 should remain barking until the arrival of the hunting 

 party. If the tree is not difhcult to climb the opos- 

 sum is soon captured, otherwise the tree must be 

 felled or the game shot. The colored people enter 

 into the sport with the greatest zest, and these hunting 

 parties have merry times. 



The hunting of the opossum in the North is more 

 frequently done in the daytime. The hunt is usually 

 confined to the edge of a forest or large timber along 

 streams and the more numerous the hollow trees the 

 better. I remember a hunt of this kind: I had been 

 tramping about with my camera, and as I was passing 

 through some large timber near a clearing on the 



