The Washington herald., 1911-05-21
OPOSSUM

hearted and unrcserved disposition, and looked
upon humanity as something to be fed by.
and to play with, and to be encouraged ac-
9Gordinsly; and wherever he found a specimen
But | an afraid his frank and easy man
ners did not always meet with the apprecia
tion. they deserved, when exhibited in the
small hours. for Poss had usually free run
At dawn of day he went to bed, of his own
accord. That is to say he would turn into
anything handy that. appeared to premise
shelter and secluson for the next twelve
the papers carefully excavated therefrom). or
the pocket OF coat hanging up.
A favorite position was the interior OF a
book, where the row on the bookshelf was
not SO tightly packed but that he could creep
between the pages from behind
Every now and then he would get shut in
somewhere or other by accident-in a drawer
or box-and not be discovered until long past
his usual hour for rising, and, when released,
would issue forth. twittering great indignation
and astonishment at the delay, fastening to
make up for lost time at his saucer of banana
and rice.
He used to cat a good many spiders-very
healthy diet, by -thcway, for any insectivo
rous crcature-and once he killed mouse
If | came into the room where he happened
to be-hght or dark-hc jumped at once on
my shoulder and was content there to stay
for the rest of the night; never still, but
coaselessy running backward and forward
between my arms and over my head; but he
would chrm in with anybody, and was fire.
qucntly borrowed for the evening At
children's parties he was in great request, for
he was never once known to bite
His strong point, in more senses than one,
was his tail, long. as you know; white, desti-
tute Of hair, sheathed in tonghribbed skin and
wonderfully prehensie-qute fifth limb, for
it more firmly than with all four legs to-
grther. And he made a marvellous use of it
in jumping, which l have not seen cxempli-
fed elsewhere in the animal world; indeed,
known OF no other tail SO strongly pTehensile
Before leaping from one point to another
h; would anchor himself by this member.
slipping his moOrings. so to speak, the mo-
ment Of taking off, but if, at that instant
he felt instinctvely that he had miscalcuated
his distance, the tail held fast and he brought
up swinging by it.
l never knew him to fall; and used to OBJ
serve this peculiar function particularly dur
ins the first few days at sea, before he had
become accustomed to the rolling of the ship
me.
And he was such useful little beast for
conjuring purposes, too; would lie quiet in
the pocket or profonde any length of time till
lady's handkerchief or a borrowed hat,
right in the middle of the audience!
Guinea pigs. rabbits and tame doves, the
creatures commonly employed in connection
WIN IHe magic COulun nOlu u Cdnule To
him in this capacity.
l made him do bit of conjuring on his
own account, which used to take very well
From a number of cons-quarters or half.
dollars-one would be selected and marked ;
this one would then be placed, marked side
dcwnwards, unfortunately amongst the
Others on the table, and 'Possum would sniff
going around them until he came to the right
one, unmistakable evidence of his choice by
seizing it with his teeth or scratching at it
with his claws.
Of course. you will guess how it was done
Palmed in my hand was a duplicate coin,
well rubbed with banana or raw meat, Of
which he was very fond; this was substituted
for the marked piece at the moment when
the latter was handed to me, and mixed in
with those on the table instead, where his
sharp little nose quickly detected it, and a
second ''double.palm'' effected the change
again in handing it back. Very simple,
though 1t wants a bit OF practice.
Dldephys dorsigcra is the company" name
of this particular opossum; dorsgera because
the young--from eight to fourteen in number
are carried on the mothers back the pouch
in this species being only rudmcntary.
1t Is a very funny sight-the whole brood
with their tails lashed fast round hers, yery
likely all sound asleep, while she goes dart
ing about all over the place in search of food
Isn't 1t curious and beautiful, this faculty
which so many young, even newborn ami
mails. have OF cbnglng to their mothers un-
consciously without hampering the maternal
movement?