324 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 
corner and article of furniture that could afford shelter failed to recover him. That the 
little creature was lost through some one having unwittingly left the door of the apartment 
open, permitting its escape, was the only and much deplored conclusion that could be arrived 
at. Towards evening, however, there was a slight rustle close at hand, and Master Tiny 
was discovered emerging, like Minerva from the head of Jupiter, from the top of one 
of the old-fashioned china dogs that decorated the hotel room mantelpiece. The ornament, 
seemingly intact from the front, had the back of the head battered in. Through the resulting 
crevice the little animal had managed to squeeze itself, having come to the conclusion, doubtless, 
that this newly chosen retreat more nearly resembled the cavernous shelter of its native 
tree-spout than its accustomed artificially constructed box. This singular domicile Master 
Tiny was permitted to monopolise for the remainder of his sojourn at that hostelry. One of 
the favourite diversions of this little phalanger during the evenings was to climb up the 
curtain and cornice of the room he occupicd, and thence hurl himself through the air with 
outspread parachute to the writer at the opposite end. The apartment, happening to be the 
commercial room of the hotel, some thirty feet in length, gave him good scope for exercising 
his characteristic flying leaps. The attitude invariably maintained during these flights is 
aptly illustrated in the accompanying photograph; the body is never poised with the head 
inclined downwards, as is commonly depicted in artists’ fancy sketches of the animal contained 
in popular natural histories. A friend of the writer's in Tasmania, who kept one of these 
flying-phalangers as a household pet, was accustomed to leave a crevice of the window open at 
night, so that the little fellow could go in and out as it liked. After the manner of most 
pets, however, a day arrived upon which its box was found vacant, a marauding cat or other 
disaster having apparently compassed its untimely end. 
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Photo by 4’, Saville-Kent, F.Z.S. _ - 
LESSER FLYING-~-PHALANGER 
Illustrating posttion maintained during its remarkable Siying leaps 
