Ranidse 



of so brilliant a metallic lustre as the young Pickerel Frog after 

 he has been in bright light for some hours. Shining gold and 

 bronze make up his colour from the tip of his little pointed " nose " 

 to the ends of his long back legs. On the other hand, the young 

 Pickerel Frog just from a cold day's sleep in the mud is so dark 

 that his spots are scarcely discernible. 



The appearance of this frog will deceive us into believing 

 that he is our familiar Leopard Frog, unless we are observing 

 enough to see that the spots are square instead of round, and 

 that as he makes one of his flying leaps there is a flash of orange 

 under the back legs and posterior part of the body. These 

 things mark him as a Pickerel Frog. He is in fact very closely 

 related to the Leopard. However, he is always brown of some 

 shade, instead of green. The head is usually less long and pointed 

 than that of the Leopard. The spots do not have yellow rims. 

 The Pickerel Frog has no large external vocal pouches, like those 

 of the Leopard, but the throat, the region back of the eye and 

 under the ear, as well as the sides, all expand considerably 

 during the croaking. The male is much smaller than the fe- 

 male. It is he alone that does the croaking. This species has 

 a distinctly unpleasant odour, due to the secretion of the skin. 

 Because of this, it is not considered edible. The frog is used 

 to a large extent as bait in pickerel-fishing, hence its name. 



These frogs live out of the water (Fig. 221) more than in it, 

 even at the breeding season. They go to the water to avoid 

 their bird and snake enemies, to lay the eggs, to absorb the cool 

 water through their shining coats. They spend the greater 

 part of their time hunting, probably for caterpillars that feed 

 on the violets and grasses, meadow caddis flies, butterflies 

 and millers, flies, gnats, and beetles. It is likely that Pickerel 

 Frogs find acceptable any insect that makes its home about the 

 brook or that comes there to deposit its eggs in the water or to 

 get honey from the flowers that grow there. They are known 

 to feed on snails, small crayfishes, and aquatic amphipods and 

 isopods. Pickerel Frogs are extremely common throughout 

 the Eastern part of the United States. They are not to he found 

 at all on the Great Plains of the West, where the Leopard holds 

 supreme sway among frogs. They make their home not only 

 in brooks and meadow marshes, but do good work in keeping 

 pure the water of cold springs. We see their large eyes and 



190 



