204 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Oct. 6, 1887. 



FEMALE OPOSSUM WITH FOUR HALF-GROWN YOUNG. Drawn bt the Author. 



as some marsupials are found in New Guinea and the ad- 

 jacent islands, while Opossums as a species do not occur 

 there at all. 



The Australian marsupials— and the mammalian fauna 

 of that region is chiefly made up of them — widely vary, 

 both as to their external forms and in many of their 

 anatomical characters, but notwithstanding this fact, 

 zoologists have, for convenience sake, kept them asso- 

 ciated in the same group. 



They all more or less agree, however, in the following 

 general structural characteristics: (1), they possess a pair 

 of epipubic bones, peculiar structures surmounting the 

 pelvis in front; ( ), they present a characteristic develop- 

 ment of the reproductive organs; (3), their "young are 

 born in an exceedingly rudimentary condition, and 

 are never nourished by means of an allantoic placenta, 

 bat are transferred to the nipple of the mother, to which 

 they remain firmly attached for a considerable time, 

 nourished by the milk injected into the mouth by com- 

 pression of the muscle covering the mammary gland. 

 They are, therefore, as previously remarked, the most 

 typically mammalian of the whole class. The nipples 

 are nearly always concealed in the fold of the abdominal 

 integument or 'pouch' (marsupium) which serves to sup- 



Sort and protect the young in their early helpless con- 

 ition." (Flower). 



The several forms of marsupial animals present us with 

 many kinds of variations in their teeth, in our Opossum 

 the canines are very large, while the incisors are small; 

 in all, there are fifty teeth in the two jaws of one of these 

 animals. Their limbs are short, and on each foot there 

 are five complete and distinct toes, armed at their 

 ex remities with sharp and curved claws, except in the 

 case of the first toe of the hind foot, "which is large, 

 widely separable from the others, to which it is opposed 

 in climbing, and terminates in dilated rounded extremity, 

 without a nail." 



Those who have had the opportunity of examining 

 those animals will remember the curious tail they possess, 

 which is partially naked, long and tapering, flexible, and 

 prehensile. 



Some OpossumB, however, have completely naked 

 tails, and as a rule are without pouches for their young to 

 ride about in, and consequently hese latter have to ride 

 on the backs of then* mothers, hanging on by their juve- 

 nile prehensile tails (Metachirus . 



Our s ecies has long leafy ears and a pelage of long, 

 coarse hair, of a dull grayish white color, the face and 

 muzzle being pure white," while the eais, on the other 

 hand, are black. Nocturnal and arboreal in its habits, it 

 live3 principally upon fruits, insects, eggs, and such small 

 birds as it may be able to capture. Farmers complain 

 that Opossums are no strangers to the hen-roosts, and 

 that they destroy poultry simply for the gratification of 

 suck ng the blood from the bodies of then- victims; I have 

 never been able to confirm or disprove this trait in their 

 character. Few mammals are more prolific than they, 

 and one of their litters may range all the way from six to 

 sixteen young at a birth, which, when first born, are ex- 

 ceeding small, and still in quite an embryonic state. 

 Their mother places them all in her pouch, and soon suc- 

 ceeds in nosing them into positions where they may at 

 once seize hold of her nipples, where they remain at- 

 tached until t ey have attained some considerable size. 

 They develop and grow very rapidly, and at the end of a 

 month's time these engaging and pretty little scamps may 

 be seen peeking; out of the maternal pouch, when in a few 

 days more the boldest among them will climb in and out, 

 or even perhaps get around on their mother's back to 

 hang on there by twining their tails about her own. Who 

 among us ever having witnessed the sight can ever for- 

 get it — the solicitous dam seems to be absolutely covered 

 all over with her sprawling progeny, and she pulls them 

 along, some dragging behind her, some hanging at her 

 sides, while the remainder are ranged along her back; 'tis 



thus she leads them along as she endeavors to find suffi- 

 cient food to feed their hungry mouths — withal a very 

 happy party. 



It is said that this prolific marsupial may have a lot of 

 three-quarter grown ones of her own in the tree about 

 her, while a dozen more as large as rats cling to her furry 

 coat, and at the same time attached to her nipples an- 

 other fitter, recently born. Those who have had the op- 

 portunity of observing the habits of the Opossum in cold 

 weather state that it is inclined to become torpid, but 

 that it is never known to truly hibernate. 



When confronted with any sudden danger, the surpris- 

 ing success with which an Opossum can feign death is 

 generally well known, a trait which has given rise to the 

 common expression of "playing 'possum.'' In some in- 

 stances, added to the fact that the animal is wonderfully 

 tenacious of life, this deception may save it from destruc- 

 tion, but to old hunters I fear the trick is too well known. 



Many of the readers of Forest and Stream have un- 

 doubtedly enjoyed an old-fashioned 'Possum hunt, a treat 

 which the writer thorov ghly envies them, for with all 

 my rambles, that have now been made the world over, 

 such an experience yet remains to be mine. Up to the 

 present writing I have participated only in so far as the 

 columns of the back numbers of this journal would per- 

 mit me — vivid, real pictures oftentimes, but still lacking 

 those bumps and bruises without which no chase can, 

 to me, be a living reality. Yet in many instances they 

 come so near the genuine article, and their reading brings 

 with them such a full measure of pleasure, that I gladly 

 leave this part of my subject to be filled in by others in 

 the coming numbers of Forest and Stream, which we 

 have yet before us to enjoy. 



As will be seen by the List at the head of this article, 

 there is one genus of Opossum which has been distin- 

 guished by the name Chironectes; this curious animal is 

 known as the Yapock, and is characterized by having 

 webbed feet, and a peculiar transverse banded coloration 

 of its fur on the head and scapular region. In many 

 particulars it reminds us of the Otter, as it is almost 

 strictly aquatic in its habits, and subsists on fish, crusta- 

 ceans, and such similar diet as it chances to find in the 

 marshes wheie it is to be found. Some Opossums attain 

 a size no greater than that of an ordinary mouse, while 

 the largest of them do not exceed in size a big cat, so 

 that they are to be ranked among the smaller of the 

 mammals of the world's fauna. 



Mr. Oldfield Thomas. F. Z. S., of the British Museum, 

 gives us an interesting account of Opossums in the 9th 

 Edition of the British Encyclopedia, and speaking of the 

 extinct types, he says, that "The fossil remains referable 

 to species of the Didelphyidae are of special interest as 

 showing some of the connecting links in geographical 

 distribution between the Opossums and the Australian 

 Marsupials, now so widely and absolutely separated. 

 They consist of the bones of a considerable number of 

 species from the Eocene and early Miocene deposits of 

 central France, one or two Eocene species having also 

 been found in southern England. The ancient Opossums 

 have been separated genericalJy from Didelphys on 

 account of certain differences in the relative sizes of the 

 lower premolars, but as nearly the whole of the species 

 have been formed on lower jaws only, of which some 

 hundreds have been found, it is impossible to judge how 

 far these differences are correllated with other dental or 

 osteological characters. In the opinion of Dr. Filhol, who 

 has devoted considerable attention to the subject', the fos- 

 sils themselves represented two genera, Peratherium, 

 containing the greater part of the species, about twenty 

 in number, and Amphiperatherium, with three species 

 only. All are comparatively small animals, few of them 

 exceeding the size of a rat. 



Besides these interesting European fossils, a certain 

 number of Didelphian bones have been found in the caves 

 of Brazil, but these are either closely allied to or identical 



with the species now living in the same region. So much 

 for our knowledge of the history of Oposhiims in time. 



Having now given the position of our Oposhum in the 

 system; presented a figure of the animal; defined its 

 geographical distr bution; given its leading structural 

 characteristics; its habits; its methods of reproduction; 

 its more immediate affinities; and, finally its relation to 

 extinct forms, I will close this account, and on some 

 future occasion present a brief sketch of the Armadillos. 



BELATED WRENS. 



l^ORTH NEW YORK, Sept. 2i.-Editor Forest and 

 1 * Stream: When running a survey line over the Van 

 Courtlandt estate, near the new Yonk'ers railroad level 

 line at Van Courtlandt Lake, by the side of the old apple 

 orchard on the proposed "Park Parade and Manhattan 

 Race Course" (then stake i out by Chas. H. Haswell, C. E„ 

 for the Van Courtlandt Club), on Saturday, August 26 

 last, in cutting through a thicket for sight, near the south 

 side of the ancient garden, we were met by the bold chal- 

 lenge, plaint and quick hammer chatter or warning chirp 

 of the "hallowed house wren." On examination for 

 cause of this alarm, we found, much to our astonishment, 

 m a chink hole of one of the old post supports of the pal- 

 ing fence surrounding this ancient garden, a nest contain- 

 ing two young fledglings, almost ready to enter upon 

 flight life. 



F riday last, Sept. 28, near the neglected and sad to say 

 abandoned graveyard of the old DeVoe family, onSedge- 

 wick avenue, near Shaft No. 22 of the new aqueduct line, 

 we discovered in the dense copse there a golden wren. 

 "The quick note of the russet wren, 

 Familiar to the haunts of men. 

 He quits in hollow'd wall his bow'r, 

 And tho' the winter's gloomy hour 

 Sings cheerily; nor yet hath lost 

 His hlitheness, chuTd by pinching frost; 

 Nor yet is forc'd for warmth to clave 

 To cavern'd nook, or straw-built cave. 

 Sing, little bird ! Sing on, designed 

 A lesson for our anxious kind; 

 That we, like thee, with hearts content, 

 Enjoy the blessings God hath sent; 

 His bounty trust, perform His will, 

 Nor antedate uncertain ill I"— Mant. 

 We watched its movements some time, thinking at first 

 we were mistaken, but there before us was that ever up- 

 right tail at an angle of 45 degrees, there indeed was to 

 be seen the quick sprightly movement and nervous action 

 that never belies the smart little wren. This is very late 

 in the year for wrens to breed and live in the chill neigh- 

 borhood of New York. Canonictjs. 



PHILO. 



PHILO ; I fancy I hear the reader exclaim, anything 

 to do with patent medicines? None whatever, fan- 

 sir. Philo is simply a woodcock that I have succeeded 

 in keeping in captivity for the last five days, or since the 

 20th, on which date he, poor fellow, had to change his 

 residence iroai the dark congenial depths of the alder 

 swamp, to the furthest recess of my game bag, and event- 

 ually to an old biscuit box half full of damp earth and 

 covered with a wire fly blind and piece of sacking to 

 create an artificial gloom. 



On the opening day for "partridge" I was crossing an 

 alder swale, with a companion, when my pointer Beppo 

 (grandson of Sensation) blundered on Philo, and as I was 

 at half cock he was nearly out of range before he fell the 

 shot, and then he fell, only being tipped. As he was 

 so slightly wounded I made up niy'mind to try and keep 

 him alive if possible and study his' habits, but with slight 

 hopes, I confess, 'of succeeding. 



Arrived home, however, I let him loose in my sanctum, 

 and he immediately walked to the darkest corner and 

 turned his back on me in the most unsociable manner. I 

 refrained from offering him any food just then, as I 

 reasoned that when shot he had only shortly finished his 

 nightly orgies and could not be very hungry. After a 

 few minutes quiet he appeared to become drowsy and 

 gradually the lower eyelid closed until it became hori- 

 zontal, the upper meanwhile remaining open, but I do 

 not believe the bird could see anything as he took no 

 notice of a stick moved rapidly within a few inches of his 

 head. His body gradually subsided until at last the tip 

 of his beak touched the floor. In this most singular atti- 

 tude he remained until evening, taking no notice of any- 

 thing. Before sundown I transferred him to the box 

 above mentioned, having previously covered the bottom 

 with four or five inches of garden mould full of appetizing 

 worms. Then covered him up and left him to his fate. 



Next morning with fear and trembling I gently re- 

 moved a corner of the sacking and peeped in, fully ex- 

 pecting to find Master Philo toes up. Not a bit of it, 

 however, he was looking bright 8 a button, and the muddy 

 state of his bill and the numerous borings in the soft earth 

 plainly showed that he had passed the hours of darkness 

 pleasantly and profitably. I immediately dug a fresh 

 supply of worms and turned them in (probably some fifty 

 worms). On perceiving them he made a most peculiar 

 sound (something like the wheeze of a bad astlimatic), 

 and on my return in about half an hour not a worm was 

 to be seen. Since that time there has been no trouble, 

 he "puts himself outside" six dozen worms at a sitting, or 

 eighteen dozen a day with the greatest ease, and I think 

 would eat as many more if he had the chance. 



This bird has, as far as I am concerned, thrown a con- 

 siderable amount of light on the vexed question of the 

 migration of woodcock durine; the moult. He was nearly 

 over his. Now I have two well-bred dogs, one a pointer, 

 the other a cocker; both will pass this bird within six feet 

 and not wind him, if the air is still (as it generally is in 

 a swamp), and he takes no notice of them. 



My present belief is that the birds do not leave the 

 swamps, but remain so still and hidden all day that, 

 coupled with the fact of their giving out next to no scent, 

 a big bag is almost an impossibility. We got another 

 cock and teat up a third on the same morning Philo was 

 captured, but all were almost trodden on before rising. 

 In a few days, however, the birds will become fairly 

 plentiful, though only for a short time, as they leave 

 their northern regions early, usually about the 25th of 

 October, although I ehot one last year on the 8th of No- 

 vember; next day it froze very hard, and I do not think 

 a bird was left in the province. Chas. A. Bramble. 

 Fbedericton, N. B., Sept. 26. 



