24 
arctos of Northern Europe and Asia — an animal which pre- 
sents many points of likeness to our Grizzly. The Cinna- 
mon Bear is mainly confined to the north-western parts of the 
United States. 
The Ursidm, or Bears, all walk on the sole of the foot, or 
are what is termed plantigrade, and with the exception of the 
Grizzly, climb trees with great facility. The diet is much 
mixed, being indiscriminately animal or vegetable. 
They are distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere — 
but one true Bear having yet been found south of the equator. 
The Common Opossum {^Didelphys virginiana) ranges east 
of the Missouri river, from about the latitude of lower Mas- 
sachusetts to the Gulf of Mexico, and with its congener {Di- 
delphys californicd), which replaces it west of those limits, 
represents in North America the order of Marsupials. (See 
page 41.) The Opossums belong properly to the carnivorous 
branch of the order, although their diet is very varied, con- 
sisting of small birds, mammals, reptiles, and eggs, as well as 
of fruits, buds, and grain. 
They live generally in the hollow of a tree, when the 
female produces as many as fifteen young at a time, breeding 
several times in the course of a year. The characteristic 
pouch of the order is well developed in the members of this 
group. 
They have a very prehensile tail, and are also distinguished 
by the peculiarity of their dentition, which consists of ten 
incisors, two canines, and fourteen molars in the upper, and 
the same, with two incisors less, in the lower jaw, or fifty 
teeth in all. 
A number of Opossums are found in South America, more 
or less resembling this species. 
The Condor (Sarcorhamphus gryphus) is the largest of the 
Vultures, rivaling arid even exceeding in size the Bearded 
Vulture or Lammergeyer of the Alps. 
They do not build nests, but commonly live in pairs on the 
bare rock, high up among the lofty peaks of the Andes, from 
which they soar to a height almost beyond the'range of human 
vision, plunging down only when their keen sight discovers 
the carcass of some dead animal on the plains below. They 
live mostly on carrion, but when pressed by hunger, it is said 
that several of them will sometimes band together to attack a 
young calf or a disabled animal out of the herd, and with 
