214 



Frogs of the Okefinokee Swamp 



VOICE 



We took these creatures as early as 1 9 1 2 but have no clear recollection or 

 notes to indicate we distinguished their notes in that year. Apparently the 

 first person to recognize their notes was R. F. Deckert (19 15, pp. 23, 24) who 

 reports "males giving vent to their faint calls, which sound more Hke the 

 chirping of insects than the calls of frogs." 



Our first acquaintance with a chorus came the evening of May 20, 1921. 

 My journal reads thus: "Then went down to the pond east of the negro quar- 

 ters and it sounded as if bedlam had broken loose. I heard a cricket-like note 

 everywhere and concluded it was Pseudacris ocularis. Have heard isolated 

 calls of this note during the day and at night for several days, but it was 

 dismissed as a possible insect yet my identification has not satisfied me. Later 

 the boys came. I had found Pseudacris ocularis to be the author of the cricket- 

 like note. One frog was on a grassy mat; one on a log; another calHng from a 

 pine bush at edge of water; another on the side of the bole of a tree. They do 

 not Hke the electric spotUght. One on pine bush after a time worked up into 

 the leaves or crawled up the branch. We flashed one on the side of a black 

 gum. Its throat pouch was transparent and we could see through it and 

 discern the bark behind. This one, one of the boys discovered without flash- 

 light, merely by the aid of moonlight. Many are in the grass and are hard to 

 see. We timed the croaks. One gave 49, 52, 55, 58 cheeps in a minute; 

 another 45, 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 59, 61, 2, 5, 7 calls a minute; another 30, 

 32, 34, 36, 38 a minute. We found that they averaged in general about 32 

 calls a minute with silent intervals averaging one second to one and seven- 

 eighths or two seconds. In some cases as few as 20 per minute were recorded. 

 Some would be regular; some irregular. Its note is penetrating and can be 

 heard 150-200 feet away. It is high pitched, insect-like. In some respects 

 it is little like the notes of other Pseudacris, yet in other respects it reminds one 

 of the other species of the triseriata-feriarum-nigrita group. It is an amusing 

 little creature as it squeezes its slender body and throws out its large sac one- 

 half the size of the body. It may be perched obhquely on the side of a bole 

 of a tree, lengthwise of brush clump or more often cross-wise of a branch. It 

 may not be on a bush at all when calHng. However, one characterizes it be 

 it as a chirp, trill, cheep, squeak, or as high, shrill, insect-hke, it surely is a 

 loud piercing call for so little a mite of frog flesh." 



In late May, 192 1, when following Pseudacris ocularis vigorously we 

 concluded from our experiences with it that above a certain required minimum 

 temperature plays less role in croaking of frogs than humidity. When the 

 temperature at night became the warmest they might not call if the air had 

 been dry at that period. 



"On July 3, 192 1 we made a trip by lever car to Honey Island, Honey Island 

 Prairie, and almost to Black Jack Island. Railroad to within i mile of Black 

 Jack. It rained at lunch and afterwards. On our return we heard Pseud- 

 acris all over the prairie and in sphagnum of wet thickets especially. On 

 Honey Island we stopped and caught a few Pseudacris. All along trestle be- 



