ii6 Frogs of the Okefinokee Swamp 



like, with body off the ground. It made hops of a couple of inches or so only 

 when I poked a straw at it. Meanwhile little loose fold of skin in the middle 

 of its throat vibrates. Once in a while it seems to nab an insect. 



"A cloudy, lowering, humid day, following a day and night of rain. — 

 Finally it made off of its own volition, — hops of two inches or so, though it 

 still mainly crawled. It was interested in ants running around near it, turning 

 its body to watch them and finally thrusting out its tongue to lick one up — ". 



The afternoon of this day, according to my own journal, we "went out to 

 Crosby Pond. — Where the road crossed a swale we heard a queer note and 

 approached it from several angles. We found its author near the base of a 

 stump in amongst saw palmetto, gallberry (Ilex glabra) and Gaylussacia. 

 The oak toad male was calling before we approached. We got within ten feet. 

 He piped only lowly. After we had worked him around for a photo for some 

 time, he suddenly to our surprise backed into a hole at the base of a saw 

 palmetto. The hole was 3/4 of an inch in diameter and not deep. Once when 

 one of us made a pass at a fly the toad ducked farther into its hole. Its note is 

 surely very birdlike. One will hear three or four calls like a piping chicken. 

 Sometimes the notes are repeated three or four times. Then process re- 

 peated after a very short interval. There may be three or four groups of 

 calling for one individual. There were several animals around. Once the 

 note was likened to that of a swallowtailed kite. Truly the most unfroglike 

 note I ever heard. It is very high pitched and some times sounds like some 

 animal in distress. There are several calling in the piney woods. One caUing 

 from a tangle of chokeberries (Aronia), Osmunda cinnamonea, Bamboo brier 

 (Smilax) and sweet bays. Couldn't find it. Are the toads moving pond- 

 ward? Later in the evening we heard none". The next day the author 

 visited this toad's burrow. When we ran a straw into it only a queer spider 

 ran out. The toad had left. 



In 1912 and in 192 1 some of the residents both normally and almost in- 

 variably accurate assured me that the blacksnake had a whistle and that this 

 note of the oak toad was the call in question. They readily acquiesced in our 

 determination of it as that of Bufo quercicus. 



On June 4, 1921, while the author was studying eggs Mr. Harper made the 

 following field notes on peeping and intervals in Bufo quercicus. In the after- 

 noon are the following: "Number of peeps during a calling period are about 

 25, 16, 13, 32, 37, 35, 32, 24 and 27 (for one observation). Only a few brief 

 seconds between periods. One interval of 3 seconds; then records of about 

 35 peeps in 20 seconds, 16 calls in 8 seconds; 18 calls in 10 seconds; 30 calls in 

 15 seconds; 32 calls in 16 seconds; 29 calls in 14 seconds". "In the evening 

 they were slower — perhaps exhausted with 4 to 5 hours of continual calling. 

 10 calls in 26 seconds; 22 in 16 seconds; 20 in 13 seconds; 22 in 17 seconds". 



In inflation of the throat they are like Bufo compactilis, Bufo cognatus. 

 The lower throat is the principal part involved in the process. The lower 

 part of the throat is thrown out into an elliptical bag or sausagelike 

 balloon. One can tell when a toad is going to thrill after a rest. The body 

 will inflate to a large size and then the most ludricous sac projects out in the 



