68 THE INDUSTRIES OF ANIMALS. 



death; according to CoucV the Landrail, the Sky- 

 lark, the Corncrake adopt the same device. Among 

 mammals, the best-known example is probably the 

 Opossum. 



An Opossum {Didelphys azard) of South America 

 enters farms to devastate the poultry yards. When 

 he is discovered he runs away, but is soon caught, 

 and blows from sticks rain upon him. Seeing that he 

 cannot escape correction he seeks at least to save his 

 life. Letting his head fall and straightening his inert 

 legs he receives the blows without flinching. Often 

 he is considered dead, and abandoned. The cunning 

 little beast, who desires nothing better, arises, shakes 

 himself, and rather bruised, but at all events alive, 

 takes his way back to the wood. 



The Argentine Fox {Canis azaroe), when caught in 

 a trap or run down by dogs, though it fights savagely 

 at first, after a time drops down and apparently dies. 

 " When in this condition of feigning death," Mr. 

 W. H. Hudson remarks, " I am quite sure that the 

 animal does not altogether lose consciousness. It is 

 exceedingly difficult to discover any evidence of life 

 in the opossum, but when one withdraws a little way 

 from the feigning fox, and watches him very atten- 

 tively, a slight opening of the eye may be detected ; 

 and, finally, when left to himself, he does not recover 

 and start up like an animal that has been stunned, 

 but slowly and cautiously raises his head first, and 

 only gets up when his foes are at a safe distance. 

 Yet I have seen gtiachos, who are very cruel to 

 animals, practise the most barbarous experiments on 

 a captive fox without being able to rouse it into 

 exhibiting any sign of life. This has greatly puzzled 



^ Illustralions of Instinct, 1847. 



