The Possum 149 



to play clumsily, after their eyes open, but 

 scurry back at her first warning grunt. The 

 play-spells outside grow longer and longer, 

 but still the young possums seek their ac- 

 customed shelter until they grow too big to 

 get in it. 



Then Sis Possum carries them another 

 way, all huddled on her back, with their tails 

 clinging to her tail, which is held up over 

 and parallel to the backbone. Thus she runs 

 out of the nest with them, or blunders about 

 the woods. The nest is in either a hollow 

 tree, or log, or stump, a dry cranny in the 

 blufF, or is scratched out beneath the floor of 

 a low-set outbuilding. It is lined with leaves 

 and grass, and is deserted after one season. 



Sis Possum likes best to fight with a tree 

 or a stone at her back, but if she must do it 

 in open ground, she half-crouches over her 

 young family, and strikes out with teeth and 

 fore feet. Her teeth are almost tusks. That 

 is another point of likeness to her cousins, 

 the pigs. Like them, also, she is carnivorous 

 if need be — eating birds and their eggs, very 

 young rabbits, beside such small deer as mice, 

 and grub-worms. To get at the grubs she 

 turns over rotting logs with her sharp nose. 

 She also roots pig- fashion for sprouting acorns, 

 and nips ofF mouthfuls of tender grass. 



Feeding thus in spring and summer the 



