XII 



THE OPOSSUM 



A new track has appeared upon the snow in 

 my neighborhood here on the Hudson within 

 the past few years. It is a strange track, and 

 suggests some small, deformed human hand. If 

 the dwarfs or brownies we read of in childhood 

 were to walk abroad in winter, they might leave 

 such an imprint behind them as this. 



This track, which we seldom see later than 

 December, is made by the opossum. This ani- 

 mal is evidently multiplying in the land, and is 

 extending its range northward. Ten years ago 

 they were rarely found here, and now they are 

 very common. I hear that they are very abun- 

 dant and troublesome on parts of Long Island. 

 The hind foot of the opossum has a sort of 

 thumb that opposes the other toes, and it is the 

 imprint of this member that looks so strange. 

 The under side of the foot is as naked as the 

 human hand, and this adds to the novel look of 

 the track in the snow. 



Late in the fall, my hired man set a trap in a 

 hole in hopes of catching a skunk, but instead 



