THE OPOSSUM 109 



the railroad, killed, as so often happens to coons, 

 foxes, muskrats, and woodchucks, by the night 

 express. The young were in her pouch, each 

 elinging to its teat, dead. The young are car- 

 ried and nursed by the mothers in this curious 

 pocket till they are four or five weeks old, or of 

 the size of large mice. After this she frequently 

 carries them about, clinging to various parts of 

 her body, some with their tails wound around 

 hers. 



The next winter, two or more possums and 

 a skunk took up their quarters under my study 

 floor. It was not altogether a happy family. 

 Just what their disagreements were about, I do 

 not know, but the skunk evidently tried to roast 

 the possums out. The possums stood it better 

 than I could. I came heartily to wish they were 

 all roasted out. I was beginning to devise ways 

 and means, when I think the skunk took him- 

 self off. After that, my only annoyance was 

 from the quarreling of the possums among them- 

 selves, and their ceaseless fussing around under 

 there, both day and night. At times they made 

 sounds as if they were scratching matches on the 

 under side of the floor : then they seemed to be 

 remaking or shifting their beds from one side to 

 the other. Sometimes I think they snored in 

 their sleep. One night, as I was going from the 



