Timorous as a gazelle in the open, brave as a lion when forced to
fight, with nerves as quick as lightning and sinews as hard as
steel, these denizens of the deep wood match the wind for speed, are
unsurpassed for endurance, and yield place to no other species in
graceful beauty.]
=OPOSSUM, VIRGINIA OPOSSUM= (=Didelphis virginiana= and its
subspecies)
The opossums are the American representatives of the ancient order
of Marsupials--a wonderfully varied group of mammals now limited to
America and Australasia. Throughout the order the young are born in an
embryonic condition and are transferred to teats located in an external
pocket or pouch in the skin of the abdomen, where they complete their
development. The kangaroos are among the most striking members of this
group.
Numerous species of opossums are known, all peculiar to America and
distributed from the eastern United States to Patagonia. The Virginia
opossum, the largest of all the species, is characterized by its coarse
hair, piglike snout, naked ears, and long, hairless, prehensile tail.
Its toes are long, slender, and so widely spread that its footprints
on the muddy border of a stream or in a dusty trail show every toe
distinctly, as in a bird track, and are unmistakably different from
those of any other mammal.
This is the only species of opossum occurring in the United States,
where it occupies all the wooded eastern parts from eastern New York,
southern Wisconsin, and eastern Nebraska south to the Gulf coast
and into the tropics. It has recently been introduced in central
California. Although scarce in the northern parts of its range, it is
abundant and well known in the warmer Southern States.
These animals love the vicinity of water, and are most numerous in and
about swamps or other wet lowlands and along bottom-lands bordering
streams. They have their dens in hollow trees, in holes under the roots
of trees, or in similar openings where they may hide away by day.
Their food consists of almost everything, animal or vegetable, that is
edible, including chickens, which they capture in nocturnal raids.
The Virginia opossums have from 5 to 14 young, which at first are
formless, naked little objects, so firmly attached to the teats in the
mother’s pouch that they can not be shaken loose. Later, when they
attain a coating of hair, they are miniature replicas of the adults,
but continue to occupy the pouch until the swarming family becomes
too large for it. The free toes of opossums are used like hands for
grasping, and the young cling firmly to the fur of their mother while
being carried about in her wanderings.
They are rather slow-moving, stupid animals, which seek safety by
their retiring nocturnal habits and by non-resistance when overtaken
by an enemy. This last trait gave origin to the familiar term “playing
possum,” and is illustrated by their habit of dropping limp and
apparently lifeless when attacked. Despite this apparent lack of
stamina, their vitality is extraordinary, rendering them difficult to
kill.
While hunting at daybreak, I once encountered an unusually large old
male opossum on his way home from a night in the forest. When we met,
he immediately stopped and stood with hanging head and tail and
half-closed eyes. I walked up and, after watching him for several
minutes without seeing the slightest movement, put my foot against his
side and gave a slight push. He promptly fell flat and lay limp and
apparently dead. I then raised him and tried to put him on his feet
again, but his legs would no longer support him, and I failed in other
tests to obtain the slightest sign of life.
The opossum has always been a favorite game animal in the Southern
States, and figures largely in the songs and folk-lore of the southern
negroes. In addition, its remarkable peculiarities have excited so much
popular interest that it has become one of the most widely known of
American animals.
=RACCOON= (=Procyon lotor= and its subspecies)
Few American wild animals are more widely known or excite more popular
interest than the raccoon. It is a short, heavily built animal with
a club-shaped tail, and with hind feet that rest flat on the ground,
like those of a bear, and make tracks that have a curious resemblance
to those of a very small child. Its front toes are long and well
separated, thus permitting the use of the front feet with almost the
facility of a monkey’s hands.
Raccoons occupy most of the wooded parts of North America from the
southern border of Canada to Panama, with the exception of the higher
mountain ranges. In the United States they are most plentiful in the
Southeastern and Gulf States and on the Pacific coast. Under the
varying climatic conditions of their great range a number of geographic
races have developed, all of which have a close general resemblance in
habits and appearance.
They everywhere seek the wooded shores of streams and lakes and the
bordering lowland forests and are expert tree-climbers, commonly having
their dens in hollow trees, often in cavities high above the ground.
In such retreats they have annually from four to six young, which
continue to frequent this retreat until well grown, thus accounting for
the numbers often found in the same cavity. Although tree-frequenting
animals, the greater part of their activities is confined to the
ground, especially along the margins of water-courses. While almost
wholly nocturnal in habits, they are occasionally encountered abroad
during the day.
Their diet is extraordinarily varied, and includes fresh-water clams,
crawfish, frogs, turtles, birds and their eggs, poultry, nuts, fruits,
and green corn. When near water they have a curious and unique habit
of washing their food before eating it. Their fondness for green corn
leads them into frequent danger, for when bottom-land cornfields tempt
them away from their usual haunts raccoon hunting with dogs at night
becomes an especially favored sport.
Raccoons are extraordinarily intelligent animals and make interesting
and amusing pets. During captivity their restless intelligence is
shown by the curiosity with which they carefully examine every strange
object. They are particularly attracted by anything bright or shining,
and a piece of tin fastened to the pan of a trap serves as a successful
lure in trapping them.
They patrol the border of streams and lakes so persistently that where
they are common they sometimes make well-trodden little trails, and
many opened mussel shells or other signs of their feasts may be found
on the tops of fallen logs or about stones projecting above the water.
In the northern part of their range they hibernate during the coldest
parts of the winter, but in the South are active throughout the year.
Raccoons began to figure in our frontier literature at an early date.
“Coon-skin” caps, with the ringed tails hanging like plumes, made the
favorite headgear of many pioneer hunters, and “coon skins” were a
recognized article of barter at country stores. Now that the increasing
occupation of the country is crowding out more and more of our wild
life, it is a pleasure to note the persistence with which these
characteristic and interesting animals continue to hold their own in so
much of their original range.