Hyla cinerea 257 



along the margin of a lake for considerable distances. Usually these experi- 

 ences came in the later afternoon (after 3 :oo p. m.)" 



Five years elapsed before we heard them again. At Flatwood, Ala., after 

 6:30 p. m. ''in a drying-up swampy pond heard a chorus which sounded Hke a 

 cow-bell at a distance. To one member of the party it sounded like an ex- 

 haust running into an oil well pipe. Took one with flashlight. It was Hyla 

 cinerea. It was on some bushes and its sides and throat looked like a pink ball." 



In 1921 we made the following notes: On Billy's Lake at night May 11, 

 "the Hyla cinerea of a place would sing, then stop, and the wave of sound 

 pass on down the lake. The frogs were mainly in the bushes along the edges 

 and hard to find in a casual way. We had to get out of the boat and search. 

 We found one two feet from water on a horizontal branch. It was literally 

 covered with gnats, mosquitoes, etc. After much manoeuvering, we finally 

 had it focused. After we had waited some time for it to croak, we discovered 

 the frog gone. About 11:00 p. m. the Hyla cinerea stopped. Temperature 

 71°. Falling temperature and cooling rain anticipated." 



On May 14 at 8:00 p. m. went to the C. A. G. (Hyla cinerea, Acris gryllus, 

 Rana grylio) pond. When I approached the pond heard no end of Hyla 

 cinerea caHing everywhere. On one iris blade found a male one foot above 

 the water. Nearby on another iris blade was a second male. In amongst a 

 mat of pickerel weed (Pontederia) and lizard's-tail (Saururus) found a male 

 at the surface and croaking; in a bush three feet above water another male; 

 in a cypress tree four feet above water another; on a lily pad still another. 

 No females seen. When one catches them with throat inflated they give a 

 funny squeak as if the balloon had burst. 



When the chorus is in full swing the males are easy to capture, not hard 

 to observe or photograph by flashlight. On April 25, 192 1, we went to one 

 pond "where many Hyla cinerea were on lily pads. Several were also in the 

 bushes. One of these allowed me to stroke it with a flashlight and did not 

 move. Finally it merely scrambled farther down the branch on which it was 

 resting." At other times it will leap from the branch to another lower branch 

 and will land in the water. In the latter case it scurries along on the water to 

 some vegetation for a new perch. 



This is easily one of the most characteristic anuran voices of the swamp. 

 We have heard it from mid April to September. Its call is loud, the frogs are 

 numerous and the voice period is long. It is one of the rain signals for the 

 residents who call it "rain frog." 



Mr. F. Harper makes the following notes on its voice: "The calls are given 

 at the rate of about 75 per minute: quonk, quonk, quonk, quonk, etc. Mean- 

 while there is an alternate inflation and deflation of throat and body. The 

 note comes at the maximum inflation of the throat sac, which is then fully 

 half the size of the body. Between croaks the throat does not fully collapse, 

 there remaining a little balloon-like expansion in the middle. After starting 

 off with the ordinary note described above, a frog will often redouble its 

 speed and at the same time add a rolling quality to the note: crronk-crronk- 

 crronk-crronk, etc. The throat sac is then only slightly deflated between 



