LESSON XXIV.
AN OPOSSUM HUNT.
“Within the twilight come forth tender snatchesOf birds’ song from beneath their darkened eaves;But now a noise of poor ground dwellers matchesThis dimness; neither loves, nor joys, nor grieves.A piping slight and shrill, and coarse dull chirpings, fillThe ear, that all day’s stronger, finer music leaves.”
“Within the twilight come forth tender snatchesOf birds’ song from beneath their darkened eaves;But now a noise of poor ground dwellers matchesThis dimness; neither loves, nor joys, nor grieves.A piping slight and shrill, and coarse dull chirpings, fillThe ear, that all day’s stronger, finer music leaves.”
“Within the twilight come forth tender snatchesOf birds’ song from beneath their darkened eaves;But now a noise of poor ground dwellers matchesThis dimness; neither loves, nor joys, nor grieves.A piping slight and shrill, and coarse dull chirpings, fillThe ear, that all day’s stronger, finer music leaves.”
“Within the twilight come forth tender snatches
Of birds’ song from beneath their darkened eaves;
But now a noise of poor ground dwellers matches
This dimness; neither loves, nor joys, nor grieves.
A piping slight and shrill, and coarse dull chirpings, fill
The ear, that all day’s stronger, finer music leaves.”
—Lowell.
“If you want to find out anything about ’possums, go to Uncle D’rius; he knows all about them”—this was the universal opinion in F—— and one day, when my mind was greatly exercised about opossums, I repaired for information to “Uncle D’rius.” I found that mine of didelphian wisdom seated at his front door, with his hands on his knees. “Uncle Darius,” I said, “I want you to tell me all about opossums.”
The old negro rubbed his gray head: “’Possums!” he cried, his bleared eyes lighting at his favorite theme, “’possums! ’possum am ’bout de bes’ thing in des y’ere worl’, w’en h’it am roasted!”
“But tell me something about themalive,” I urged.
“’Live? ’Possum am a mighty onconsideratin’ animal when h’it ’live. An’ w’en a man kin ketch ’possum any time he go fur him, he am a berry sma’at man, fo’ sho! Dere’s ony one sech man in dese y’ere pa’ats, an’ h’it am Uncle D’rius w’en he was young an’ spry.”
And that was all Uncle Darius could tell me about opossums. Certainly he knew very much more. He had huntedthem, and eaten them, and brought home baby opossums to bring up for pets—but unluckily, Uncle D’rius had not habits of observation, nor any gift for telling what he knew. Fortunately I had other means of learning something about opossums. Let us first indulge in a few plain statements about the opossum, and then devote a little time to some of its interesting habits.
1. The opossum, like the beaver, is a very ancient animal; its fossils are plentifully found in the strata of the Eocene age, the first age of the last world-building period.[53]
2. The opossum is entirely an American animal; is unknown in Europe and Asia; and is found from the northern part of the Southern States to the north boundary of Patagonia.
3. It belongs to the mammalian order of marsupials, or pouched animals, furnished with a pouch or pocket for carrying the young.
4. Its nearest relatives are found in Australia.
5. With one exception it is the lowest of the mammalian orders.
6. Its scientific name is Didelphys.
7. This family has two groups: first, a very large group to which the opossums and their nearest kin belong; the other group has but one species of animal, the yapock, which thus claims a whole genus for itself.
The yapock is a little creature with webbed feet, aquatic in its habits: it feeds on fish and small crabs; its homeis in Guatemala and Brazil; its fur is gray marked with brown.
Having disposed of the genus represented only by the yapock, let us describe the opossum and the general characteristics of its kindred. The animal is small, varying from the size of a mouse to that of a large cat. It has several very marked characteristics.
First, the opossum has a great number of teeth, fully fifty. These are fitted for tearing and eating flesh, for grinding up the horny bodies of insects, and also for devouring roots, berries, eggs, and fruits. While belonging to the carnivorous class of feeders, the opossum is thoroughly omnivorous, and seldom finds any variety of food which he disdains to taste.
The second marked peculiarity is the pouch, formed of a large fold of the skin of the under part of the mother opossum’s body. This fold makes a bag, supported by two slender but strong bones, from which the order receives its name—didelphys. In this bag the mother opossum stows her little ones, and carries them about with her until they are old enough to be weaned, and can look out for themselves.
The third notable mark of the opossum is its tail, which is long and supple, and has its terminal half bare of fur and covered with scales. This tail is called prehensile, because hand-like it can clasp itself closely about any object with which the creature would serve itself as a support. A few turns of this lithe tail about a branch will bear the weight of even a mother opossum loaded with her pouch full of littleones; and a vigorous shaking of the branch cannot dislodge her.
The fourth remarkable characteristic is to be found in the feet of the opossum. These have each five toes, and on the hind feet the large toes are without nails, and are set thumb-like in opposition to the other four, so that these hind feet are really strong and supple hands.
Finally, the opossum is distinguished by the large number of its progeny. A cow marches about followed by a single calf; a sheep but seldom has twin lambs; the lion never has more than two whelps; but the prolific opossum goes skipping around with fifteen or sixteen little furry children gambolling after her, or thrusting their sharp noses from her warm pouch.
The nose of the opossum is sharp, long, and well provided with whiskers, as is that of a cat; the eyes are dark, sleepy looking by day, but bright and alert by night, for the opossum is a night-prowler; the ears are erect, large, and leaf-like.
The fur is coarse and of a light gray color; occasionally a pure white opossum is found, while the smallest of all the species is dressed in bright red. This soldier-dressed opossum is no larger than a house mouse, and is a native of Mexico. In Brazil there is another small species which looks much like a “chipmunk,” having a reddish gray coat with three black bands down the back.
One very interesting member of the family is called “Lord Derby’s opossum”; it is a native of South America, and is rather larger than a gray squirrel; its fur is short andclose, its tail is entirely covered with scales; and usually the mother is without the pouch for the young. To make up for this lack, she arches her long tail forward, puts all her children on her back, and they curl their limber little tails about the over-arching tail of their mother; thus, secure from falling, they ride around in state on their soft, fur coach.
An extreme love for its numerous offspring is an eminent trait of the opossum. The mother does not, like many human mothers, leave her children alone, or in the streets, or with a nurse, while she goes visiting, shopping, or feasting. She always takes the children with her, and is never happy unless her furry brood is close beside her.
The largest and best known of all the opossum tribe is the Virginia opossum, a common variety in many parts of North America. Although it is of too nervous and irritable a disposition to be made a pet, it frequently lives in towns. Hiding by day on the roof or in the sewers, and coming forth at night for food, it acts as a scavenger.
The little opossums are born in the spring, and the mother packs them all in her fur pocket, and carries them about with her until they are able to run, and to feed themselves. When they begin to go alone they keep near the mother, and if alarmed rush to her and try to nestle back in their safe early quarters.
The Virginia opossum is particularly fond of the banana-shaped fruit of the pawpaw tree, and on the moonlight nights in the autumn when these are ripe, the opossums gather from far and near about the low, wide-spreading trees, and have a grand picnic. It is useless to try to shake the animalsfrom the trees; for, wrapping their flexible tails about the branches, they hold on with a persistency that defies the rudest jar.
When caught, the opossum feigns death, and no abuse, less than putting a live coal to its nose, will cause it to give sign of life. Happily this cruel test cannot often be applied. Many an opossum, caught robbing a poultry yard, has been left for dead by the farmer, and as soon as his back was turned has nimbly picked itself up and glided away. So, too, many a negro has brought home from a “’possum hunt,” a captive, which he designed for his favorite feast; but as he kneeled by the hearth to stir up the smouldering fire, the wily opossum lying where it had been flung on the floor, stealthily opened one eye to investigate the situation, then like a flash leaped from door or window, and was back to the woods.
Opossums live in clefts of rocks, holes in the earth, and in hollow trees. When hunted they take refuge in the first hollow tree they can find, and many a tree is felled by the ’possum hunters that they may cut the animal out of its retreat. The flavor of the flesh is much like that of a young pig.
In South America the opossum seems to fill the place of an insect eater, occupied in other countries by the true insectivora,—the hedge-hog, mole, and shrew. Probably in countries where they are plentiful, the opossum eats more insects than all other insect eaters put together. Its teeth are provided with numerous little points which enable them to grind, as in a mill, the horny bodies of insects.
Young birds, and young barn-yard fowls, eggs, such littleanimals as mice, moles, toads, and the young of rabbits and hares, tempt the appetite of the opossum, who is a general depredator. In return, either for vengeance, or to obtain its flesh for food, the opossum is preyed upon, and were it not for its enormous yearly increase would soon be exterminated.
In Australia a little animal named a phalanger, or fingered animal, is called an opossum, and, indeed, closely resembles the real opossums, though it is of a different family. Its size, pouch, and general habits might lead it to be mistaken for one of the opossum tribe. Many of these phalangers have the skin stretched as we see it in a flying squirrel, on each side the body between the front and hind-legs. Extending this as they spring from tree to tree, they are up-borne and can make enormous leaps.
One of these flying-squirrel phalangers is often called “the most beautiful of all mammals”; its shape is so graceful, its fur so rich, and its tail so long and handsome. Another phalanger is called theacrobat, on account of its wonderful jumping: it is smaller than a mouse, and lives daintily upon honey and certain honey-seeking insects; thus its appetite offers a strong contrast to that of the greedy opossum.
FOOTNOTES:[53]The chart which serves asfrontispieceshould be often consulted to fix these periods in the pupil’s mind.
[53]The chart which serves asfrontispieceshould be often consulted to fix these periods in the pupil’s mind.
[53]The chart which serves asfrontispieceshould be often consulted to fix these periods in the pupil’s mind.