A SLOW TRAVELLER. 249 
fox, but an amble or pace, moving the two legs 
on one side at a time. Its walk on the ground 
is plantigrade, resting the whole heel on the 
earth. When, pursued, it by no means stops at 
once and feigns death, as has often been sup- 
posed, but goes forward at a rather slow speed, 
it is true, but as fast as it is able, never, that we 
"are aware of, increasing it to a leap or canter, 
but striving to avoid its pursuers by sneaking 
off to some thicket or briar patch; when, how- 
ever, it discovers that the dog is in close pursuit, 
it flies for safety to the nearest tree, usually a 
sapling, and unless molested does not ascend to 
the top, but seeks an easy resting place in some 
crotch not twenty feet from the ground, where it 
waits silently and immeveably, till the dog, find- 
ing that his master will not come to his aid, and 
becoming weary of barking at the foot of the 
tree, leaves the opossum to follow the bent of 
his inclinations, and conclude his nightly round 
in search of food. Although a slow traveller, 
the opossum, by keeping perseveringly on foot 
during the greater part of the night, hunts over 
much ground, and has been known to make a 
circle of a mile or two in one night. Its ranges, 
however, appear to be restricted or extended ac- 
cording to its necessities, as when it has taken 
up its residlence near a corn field, or a clump of 
‘tipe persimmon trees, the wants of nature are 
