The Common Leopard Frog 



ture remarkably. He was grateful for any attention in the 

 way of worms or grasshoppers, and sang and talked most confid- 

 ingly when taken in the hand or when showered with water. 

 Soon after being taken from his prison, and before he had been 

 released to the good hunting-fields near at hand, he moulted 

 the skin. The process is exactly like that described for the 

 toad (pp. 73-75). The frog sits up very high, with his back greatly 

 humped. After the skin is split along the back of the head, he 

 uses the front feet to get it from over the eyes, with movements 

 like those of a cat when washing over its ears. He looks es- 

 pecially ludicrous when removing the hind legs from their sheath- 

 ing coats, because of the length of the legs. They are drawn 

 forward and then stretched back again and again during the 

 process. 



The Leopard Frogs are among the first of our frogs to come 

 from their hibernation in the spring. 1 The eggs are usually laid 

 in March. 2 The shallow water of marshes and of pond and lake 

 margins resounds with their voices during the latter half of 

 March and in early April, just when the bluebirds are deciding 

 which cozy hole in the old apple-tree will make the best home 

 for a family. Even when at the height of its power, the in- 

 dividual voice is not loud, although it is musical. The voice 

 defies description in terms of familiar sounds. It has lately 

 been described as a " characteristic snoring croak or rattle." 



Let us go to the marsh or pond in late March or early April. 

 It is a warm, sunny forenoon. The maroon hoods and grey, 

 pointed leaf-buds of the skunk-cabbage are picturesque among 



The maroon hoods of the skunk-cabbage are picturesque among moss and 

 dead leaves at the time when the eggs of the Leopard Frog are laid. 



1 The wood frogs are likely to precede them. 



* March 25, April 5, 1890. R. virescens. T. H. Morgan.^ Baltimore, Md. 



March 22, April i, 1897. R. virescens. R. G. Harrison. 



" The Leopard Frog breeds in March." C. S. Brimley, Raleigh, N. C. 



175 



