Hyla andersonii 235 



a sound more like a clatter, or sharp click, something like that made by the 

 Virginia rail. The vocal vesicle resembled that of Hyla versicolor. It appeared 

 to take in a big breath and produced about 6 clicks as the air escaped." 

 Thus it appears the doctors (M. D.) do not agree. No one reports how 

 George Pine might have characterized this individual frog. Furthermore, 

 there are many people who have characterized in my presence Hyla 

 crucifer, Pseudacris triseriata, Pseudacris nigrita, Acris gryllus as "peep"ers 

 although the writer might not do the same. If one used the "keck" character- 

 ization of Abbott and Harper's kek for Hyla femoralis one might infer close 

 relationship. The latter, however, characterizes the call of Hyla andersonii 

 as "quak". The calls are different as both Harper and I know from experience. 

 From the diverse characterizations of the call of Hyla andersonii Noble and 

 Noble (1927, p. 426) write "One would gather from the literature that' the 

 Anderson Tree Frog had a variety of calls", but they proceed to state it has 

 one call thereby implying quite rightly that the different renditions of its 

 call are for one call not many. But the abnormal calls of the tree toad re- 

 corded by Wright are assigned by them to Overton's "turkey root" call. 

 One call is that call but others are not. Herein is revealed the difficulty of 

 one person interpreting the call evidence of another. Overton, Harper and 

 the writer have been abroad at night together, so by direct identification we 

 know what the other means by each syllabic or simile characterization, but 

 I would hate to have to identify a frog without this aid though hearing is one 

 of my best means of identification. No two have characterized more frogs 

 nor better than Overton and Harper, yet their characterizations are not the 

 way I always hear them. 



In 1894, J. Percy Moore (1894, pp. 1045, 1046) writes of its voice and 

 habits thus: "About the middle of June, 1889, Mr. Louis M. Glackens and 

 the writer were engaged in general biological studies along the Atsion and 

 Batsta Creeks in Atlantic and Burlington Counties, New Jersey. On the 

 night of June 17th we stopped at Pleasant Mills. Shortly before sundown a 

 thunder storm arose, just previous to and during which the frogs became very 

 noisy in a swampy thicket near by. 



"The note was an unfamiliar one and invited investigation, which resulted 

 in the capture of two specimens of this handsome and rare species. The shrill 

 quack-ack, which at the time was compared to the note of a frightened guinea 

 fowl, and which is not unlike the call of a rail, was constant and seemed to 

 come from every tree, but during our progress through the voices immediate- 

 ly around us, for a radius of about 25 feet, were silent. This circumstance, 

 and the oncoming darkness made it difficult to secure specimens, although 

 frogs were so abundant. The two secured were found perched on the lower 

 side of branches of pines with dilated and vibrating throats, though at the 

 moment they were silent; and it was noted that they emitted an odor which 

 was likened to that of raw green peas. . . . The following morning we could 

 find no trace of them, but later in the day heard another chorus in the middle 

 of a dense swampy thicket. Since then Mr. H. F. Moore and myself have 



