_Foxes._――The Gray Fox is found in great numbers throughout the country, and ventures more boldly than any other species into the neighborhood of human habitations. It exhibits different colors at different seasons and ages; its general color is grizzly, growing gradually darker from the fore shoulders to the hinder part of the back. The inferior parts of the body are white, tinged slightly with faint reddish brown. The tail is thick and bushy. The _Red Fox_ is a very beautiful species, and abounds in the middle and southern states, where it proves very troublesome to poultry-yards. In summer, its fur is long, fine, and brilliant; in winter, it becomes longer and more thick. The length of this species is about two feet, and of its tail, nearly a foot and a half. Its fur is valuable, and much used. When caught young, the red fox is very playful, and may be domesticated to a considerable degree; we have known it to live in perfect friendship with a number of dogs, and to take much pleasure in tumbling about and sporting with them.[45] The _Black Fox_ bears a striking resemblance to the common fox, from which it has nothing to distinguish it but its abundant and beautiful black fur. Its color is rich and lustrous, having a small quantity of white mingled with the prevailing black on different parts of its body. It is found throughout the northern parts of America, but no where in great numbers. The _Swift Fox_ is a very interesting species, inhabiting the open plains which stretch from the base of the Rocky Mountains towards the Mississippi. Illustration: Black Fox. _Opossum_.――This animal is found in the southern parts of the United States, and is easily distinguished from all others by two peculiarities: the first is that the female has a cavity under the belly in which she receives and suckles her young; the second is, that the male and the female have no claws on the great toe of the hind feet, which is separated from the others as a man’s thumb is separated from his fingers. The opossum produces often, and a great number of young at a time. It walks awkwardly, and seldom runs; but it climbs trees with great facility, and hangs from the branches by means of a very flexible and muscular tail. Though voracious and greedy of blood, it also feeds on reptiles, insects, sugar-canes, potatoes, and even leaves and bark of trees. It may be easily domesticated; but its smell is strong and offensive, though its flesh is eatable, and much liked by the Indians. So tenacious is it of life, that it has given rise to a saying in North Carolina, that if a cat has nine lives, an opossum has nineteen. The general color of the opossum is a whitish gray; the tail is thick and black, for upwards of three inches at its base, and is covered by small scales, interspersed with white, short, rigid hairs. It is a timid and nocturnal animal, depending for its safety more on cunning than strength. Illustration: Virginia Opossum.