It is interesting to note that this country was possessed of several species of wild horses, but these died out long before the advent of the Indian on this continent. The present wild horses of our western plains are merely stragglers from the herds brought over by the Spaniards and other settlers. When Columbus discovered America there were no horses on the continent, though in North America horses and camels originated (see text, page 399).] [Illustration: From drawings by Charles R. Knight THE FOREST HORSE OF NORTH AMERICA (HYPOHIPPOS MIOCENE) This animal is supposed to have inhabited heavy undergrowth. It was somewhat off the true horse ancestry and had three rather stout toes on both the fore and hind feet.] [Illustration: Photograph by Gus A. Swanson A MONTANA DOE AND FAWN Observers of those times believed that at the beginning of the last century there were more deer and antelope in the United States than there were buffaloes. If that be true, they were probably more numerous than any domestic animal we have today.] [Illustration: Photograph by Gus A. Swanson THE SPIRIT OF THE WILD 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.