Identifier: fourfeetwingsfin00mask (find matches)
Title: Four feet, wings, and fins
Year: 1879 (1870s)
Authors: Maskell, A. E. Anderson- Mrs
Subjects: Zoology
Publisher: Boston, D. Lothrop and Co
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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kangaroos related to the opossums.f^asked Frank. . They ^eem to be allied to the opossums in onerespect, only — in being furnished with the pouchin which to carry their young. The kangaroo belongsto the order Marsupiala, the sanie as the opossum,but to a different family, called Macropodidce. Theyare natives of New Holland, and are very muchlarger than opossums. They have been known tomeasure as many as nine feet from the tip of thenose to the end of the tail, and to weigh a hundredand fifty pounds. The fore-legs are scarcely evermore than nineteen inches in length, while the hinderones are some three feet and a half long. Fromits formation, it is able to leap great distances, saytwenty feet at a time, and thus eludes the fleetesthound. Kano-aroos have g:reat streno;th in theirtails, using them sometimes as weapons of defence,striking heavy blows with them. The female givesbirth to but one at %. time, and so very small is it asto scarcely measure more than an inch in length. •114
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A RACCOON IN CHURCH. It seeks its mothers pouch in the same manner thatthe opossums Httle ones do, and pursues the verysame course afterwards. Kangaroos live in burrowsunder the ground, and subsist on vegetables—chiefly•on grass. They feed in herds of thirty or forty,generally with one stationed to keep watch for theothers. There are but three species of kangaroos.But, singular as it is, all the Mammalia quadrupedsof Australia, of which there are more than a hun-dred species, are Marsupial animals — that is, havepouches in which to carry their young. I wonder if there are any martens aroundhere) said Frank, suddenly. Not many, now, I guess. Their fur is toovaluable. They have nearly all been killed. ButI can tell you about them. They live likesquirrels among the trees. They are about eigh-teen inches long, and of a dark chestnut color ontheir backs. The throat and breast of the commonmarten is white; those of the pine-marten, yellow.I have seen a pine-marten scrambling over a la

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