Hyla versicolor 327 



GENERAL HABITS 



Metachrosis. LeConte (1825, p. 281) called it Hyla versicolor in allusion 

 to its metachrosis. Harlan (1927, p. 343) in his description alluded to its 

 "colour varying with the will of the animal from pale-brown to cinerous and 

 green." Holbrook (1842, Vol. IV, p. 115) spoke of it thus: "This is a beautiful 

 species of Hyla: its colours seeming almost to vary at the will of the animal." 

 DeKay (1842, Part III, p. 71) says "its facility of assimilating the color with 

 that of the tree on which it rests, renders its capture very difficult." Since 

 that date writers have alluded to this phase of the tree toad's life more than 

 any other one topic. It is too well known to require further discussion. 



VOICE 



This is a famihar phase of its life history. Holbrook (1842, Vol. IV, p. 117) 

 writes : 



"It is very noisy towards evening in cloudy weather or before rain, its 

 voice consisting of a liquid note, terminating abruptly, like 1-1-1-1-l-l-luk. At 

 the close of spring, and during a great part of the summer, when the toad has 

 become silent, this note may be heard especially in the evening from various 

 shallow pools, to which the animal resorts for the purpose of depositing its 

 spawn." 



DeKay (1842, Part III, p. 71) asserts "I have been assured by many 

 credible persons that it possesses ventriloquial powers in no considerable 

 degree, and often deceives the most attentive observers." 



Cope (1889, p. 375) characterizes it as follows: "Its voice is a loud, coarse, 

 resonant trill, uttered with a uniform pitch, and continued for two or three 

 seconds. It is heard about bodies of water in the spring, when the sexes are 

 depositing and fertihzing the eggs. Later in the season it proceeds from fences, 

 hedgerows, and orchards, as well as from the forest, often at no great elevation 

 from the ground. They are especially noisy towards evening after a rain." 



In 1906 Fowler says that "The vocal sac when inflated is very marked, 

 though apparently it does not distend to the extent of that of pickeringii. 

 It collapses by a series of jerks as the cry is emitted. They usually do not 

 begin to call much before late April." 



The same year Dickerson (1906, p. 119) writes: "At dusk or on rainy days 

 a loud resonant trill comes from the trees and vines. The sound has the charm 

 of contentment in it; in fact it is much like the purring of a cat, only louder. 

 At a distance it sound something like the bleating of a lamb. The pitch is 

 uniform, but may vary with the individual, from G above middle C to E 

 above. It continues for two or three seconds at a time, then ends abruptly. 

 It may be given several times in rather close succession. If we see the tree 

 frog trilling, we are surprised that the whole body is so greatly agitated and 

 that the throat extends into so large a sac. The size of the sac decreases be- 

 tween each two trills and at the end collapses, leaving a very wrinkled throat." 



Overton, a pioneer in amphibian flashlight photography, has studied the 

 caUs of our northeastern frogs very assiduously. He discusses this form thus. 



