among
the thick leaves; but the next we saw her crawling out upon the branch
that overhung the pawpaw.

"When she had reached a point directly above the nest, she flung herself
fearlessly from the branch, and hung to her whole length--suspended by
the tail. In this position she oscillated back and forward, with gaping
mouth and outstretched claws, endeavouring to seize hold of the nest;
but, with all her efforts, and no doubt to her great mortification, she
was unable to reach it. She hung for several minutes, clutching, now at
the nest, now at the leaves of the pawpaw, and evidently tantalised by
the thought of the delicious eggs so near her very nose. We could see
that she had lowered herself to the last link of her tail--until only a
single turn of it sustained her upon the limb--and we expected every
moment to see her fall to the ground. Her stretching was all to no
purpose, however; and at length, uttering a bitter snarl, she swung
herself back to the limb, and came running down from the oak.

"She seemed to have given up her purpose in a sort of angry despair; for
climbing up the pawpaw, she hurried her young from the branch, pitching
them somewhat rudely to the ground. In a short while she had gathered
them all upon her back and into her pouch; and commenced retreating from
the spot--while the orioles changed their terrified screaming into
chirrups of victory.

"Frank and I now deemed it proper to interfere, and cut off the retreat
of the `old 'possum;' so, dropping from our perch, we soon overtook and
captured the whole family. The old one, on first seeing us approach,
rolled herself into a round clump--so that neither her head nor legs
could be seen--and in this attitude feigned to be quite dead. Several
of the youngsters, who were _outside_, immediately detached themselves,
and imitated the example of their mother--so that the family now
presented the appearance of a large ball of whitish wool, with several
smaller `clews' lying around it!

"On finding, however, that we were not to be cheated, and being pricked
gently with the point of an arrow, the old one unwound herself; and,
opening her long jaws, snapped and bit on every side of her, uttering
all the while a sharp noise, like the snarling of a poodle.

"Her snarling did not avail her, for in a few minutes we had muzzled her
securely, and made her fast to one of the saplings--intending to take
the whole family with us when we returned to the ho