j THE AMPHIBIA IN GENERAL 19 



bank of some pond or stream. It makes for the water very 

 quickly when alarmed, and usually skims along the surface 

 for several yards before diving below. According to Kalm, 

 it may leap to a distance of three yards, but Abbott, who 

 experimented with several specimens, found none that could 

 jump quite seven feet. The males have a very loud, hoarse 

 bass voice, which has been compared to the roaring of a 

 bull. When a number of them are croaking near by, the 

 noise, as Kalm observes, is " so loud that two people talking 

 by the side of a pond cannot understand each other. They 

 croak all together ; then stop a little, and begin again. It 

 seems as if they had a captain among them ; for when he 

 begins to croak, all the others follow ; and when he stops, 

 the others are all silent. When this captain gives the signal 

 for stopping, you hear a note like 'po-op!* coming from 

 him. In daytime they seldom make any great noise, unless 

 the sky is covered. But the night is their croaking time ; 

 and when all is calm, you may hear them, though you are 

 near a mile and a half off." 



Bullfrogs feed not only upon the creatures devoured by 

 other species of frogs, but they frequently capture other 

 animals which their smaller relatives are unable to swallow. 

 They often devour full-grown specimens of other species of 

 Rana, the young of ducks, and other water fowl, and even 

 small'chickens which venture too near their haunts. 



The bullfrog requires two years to complete its metamor- 

 phosis. I have often captured its large tadpoles beneath the 

 ice in midwinter. 



A very closely allied species of bullfrog, R. grylio, has 

 recently been described from Florida by Stejneger. It has 

 somewhat longer toes and a darker color than catesbiana, 

 and is said to have a quite different voice. 



Rana clamitans. — This species has a nearly uniform green 



