1084 Rural School Leaflet 



voice that seems almost at our feet and we move very slowly and carefully 

 lest a false step startle him and cause us to repeat our former wait. After 

 diligent searching without reward, the voice crying " peep-peep," before 

 our very noses, we are about to give up in despair when a slight movement 

 betrays his whereabouts. There he is, in plain sight amid the grass stems. 

 We wonder that we did not see him before. His throat blown out to the 

 size of a marble and almost entirely concealing his small head, he looks 

 more like a bubble than a living thing. Furthermore, his piercing cry 

 is so deceptive that it is no wonder we did not find him sooner. 



If we are deft with our hands or with a net, we may catch him, otherwise 

 another long wait will ensue. If successful a surprise awaits us. For out 

 of all proportion to the size of his voice, the creature that we have cap- 

 tured is scarcely an inch long and smaller than the end of a finger. Let 

 us take him to the schoolroom, for we will find him a most interesting pet. 



Never growing over an inch in length, the Peeper is one of the smaller 

 of several species of tree-frogs found in New York State. These tree- 

 frogs may be distinguished as a group from the true toads and frogs by 

 the presence of small viscid disks, or pads, on the ends of the toes. In 

 some species these disks are very small, but in the Peeper they are fairly 

 conspicuous. The Peeper is furthermore readily distinguished by the 

 dark bar between the eyes and by the oblique cross on the back. The 

 general color varies considerably, from a dark grayish brown when in the 

 sunlight to a light fawn when the Peeper has been for some time in the 

 shade. The change in color often takes place rather rapidly, as can be 

 demonstrated by removing him from a dark, cool box to the bright, warm 

 sunlight. The markings that were prominent while the general color 

 was light now become very inconspicuous. Unlike his larger brother, the 

 common tree-toad (Hyla versicolor), the Peeper never changes to green, 

 although in the fall the color often takes on a decided orange cast. 

 1 The Peeper is not a strictly aquatic animal, for it is only during the 

 breeding season that he lives in the water. Passing the winter beneath 

 a log, stone, or pile of rubbish, the first few warm days of spring thaw 

 him out and he starts for the ponds. Very often, indeed, we hear his 

 shrill note from the bed in which he has passed the winter, long before he 

 reaches the water. 



The males reach the ponds first, the chorus having attained considerable 

 volume before the appearance of the females. The females are more 

 difficult to find than are the males, for they lack the vocal ability. They 

 can be easily distinguished by the absence of the vocal sac, which is evident 

 on the throat of the male, even when not distended, as dark, wrinkled 

 skin. Soon the eggs are laid; but they are seldom seen, for, instead of 

 being deposited in bunches or strings as is the case with frogs and toads, 



