IN FEATHERS AND FUR. 23 
striking with their tails. If there is water near, they go in up to 
the shoulders, and then woe to the dog who dares to go near ! 
The Kangaroo will seize him and hold him under water till he 
drowns. 
Kangaroos live in the woods, and one kind, the Tree Kan- 
garoo, even lives in the trees and eats leaves and fruit. 
One little fellow, belonging to the family, is called the Jerboa 
Kangaroo. He is about as large as a rabbit, and very pretty. He 
leaps over the ground like his bigger relations, and makes a funny 
house for himself. Hunting up a little hollow among the grass, he 
builds a roof of grass and leaves which looks much like the grass 
around it. Most people would pass the little house twenty times 
a day and never see it. 
When the cunning little fellow can t find grass near by that is 
long enough, he goes off till he finds some/and proceeds to cut 
down as much as he wants. He then rolls his tail around it so as 
to make it into a bundle — or bale, perhaps I ought to say — and 
hops away to his nest with the load. 
When the house is done, and the babies in it, the mother is 
very careful to close the door, when she goes out, by drawing a 
wisp of grass before it. These little babies, you see, have no nice 
fur bag to ride in. 
The little Kangaroo is not the only baby that lives in a bag. 
Here's another family just as comfortably provided for, and this 
happy mother has six or eight little ones to take care of at a time. 
It is the Opossum family, found in our Southern States. The 
largest Opossums are about the size of a cat, and many are smaller. 
This bright looking mother has no long hind legs to leap away 
from her enemies, but she has what serves her just as well, — strong 
arms and claws to climb with, and a tail that can hold on as well as 
a hand. She spends the days at home, nicely hid away in a hollow 
tree or other snug home, and at night she comes out for food. 
Then the little four footed fellows, like rabbits and squirrels, may 
look out, for she's extremely fond of fresh meat, and has fifty sharp 
teeth of her own, besides a nursery full of hungry babies to feed. 
She will eat birds, eggs, insects, or even fruit. But her favorite 
morsel is a fat chicken, and here — alas ! — she interferes with 
man's comfort and makes an enemy of him. In consequence, 
Opossum hunting is a favorite amusement among Southern ne- 
groes, and traps and snares await her in every farm yard. 
