FOOD, HIBERNATION AND MIGRATION 



95 



there are at least three reasons for these differences in the kind of food 

 eaten by these animals. The first is that frogs and toads do not live 

 in quite the same places, even if they are collected in the same area. 

 Frogs prefer the damper parts, but toads are more usually found in 

 drier places. It follows that the kinds of food available to the animals 



Table 3 

 THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE FOOD OF FROGS AND TOADS 



Table 4 

 FOOD TAKEN IN THE WINTER 



are not the same — they eat v^hat happens to be there. The second reason 

 for the differences is that the Anura in general are not indiscriminate 

 feeders. For examples drawn from my own experience of them in 

 captivity, I found that Bombina variegata are adept at taking flies from 

 the surface of the water in which these aquatic toads usually float, and 

 also eat slugs skilfully, even though these are large prey for these small 

 toads. They reject mealworms. No tree frogs {Hyla) will, to my 

 knowledge, take earthworms readily, but become alert in the presence 

 of flying insects. These are all instances in which the animals seem to be 

 most ready to feed on prey that they are most likely to find in their 

 natural habitats. Cott (1936) showed that there was a tliird reason for 



