Animal products; . y a peculiar shrill cry to whichthey give utterance, or by the marks made by their claws inascending the trees. The opossum seldom weighs more than fiveor six pounds. His flesh is good, but is not much used by thesettlers; it affords to the blacks, however, the largest portion oftheir animal food, as they are able to get the opossum with com-parative ease, by climbing the tree on which it abides. A gooddog will scent an opossum most readily; the more readily indeed,because he generally gets the carcase of the little animal as hisshare of the spoil, the sportsman contenting h
Animal products; . y a peculiar shrill cry to whichthey give utterance, or by the marks made by their claws inascending the trees. The opossum seldom weighs more than fiveor six pounds. His flesh is good, but is not much used by thesettlers; it affords to the blacks, however, the largest portion oftheir animal food, as they are able to get the opossum with com-parative ease, by climbing the tree on which it abides. A gooddog will scent an opossum most readily; the more readily indeed,because he generally gets the carcase of the little animal as hisshare of the spoil, the sportsman contenting himself with the the bushmans dog points out the locale of an opossum, OPOSSUMS. 399 the dogs master will often amuse himself by storming the dwell-ing of the concealed animal and capturing him at once ; if he isin the hollow of a limb, the limb is cut off, and he is speedilyturned out; if he is in the body of a hollow tree the interior ofwhich is accessible near the root, a fire is lit below, and the poor. a, The Woolly Kangaroo [Macropus laniger), with young protruding fromthe Marsupium. b, Opossum {Didelphys ornata). opossum is compelled either to come out and face his enemiesor to be suffocated—he chooses the former alternative, and isshot. The Virginian opossum (Didelphys virginiana), one of thelargest and most robust of the genus, is eaten in the SouthernStates of America, and is said to be white and well tasted, but itsugly tail is enough to put one out of conceit of the fare. The Gamba, or saraque, another of the species, is considered adelicate meat by some in Brazil, while by others it is regarded 4oo SPECIES OF KANGAROO. with repugnance ; the axillary glands have to be extracted beforeit can be eaten. About twenty years ago opossum skins first came into demandto be made into furs for ladies, and large quantities were broughtinto Buffalo city from Pennsylvania and Ohio, selling at about In the Museum Collection of furs there are skins of theAust
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