British Amphibians : Toads and Frogs 



This species is usually found about ditches, stagnant 

 pools, and such places, where it breeds. Evidently it 

 is local in its distribution, although where found it 

 seems to be quite plentiful. It is by no means common 

 north of the Tweed. The animal has an extremely 

 hoarse croak, and heard in the quiet of a summer 

 evening, this croaking cannot but attract the wayfarer's 

 notice. When heard in concert, the noise is remarkably 

 striking, as the sound carries a long distance in the 

 still twilight. As one looks down upon a Toad or 

 Natterjack in the grass while the afterglow dips beyond 

 the hill-crests, there is something attractive about the 

 eyes of these creatures one cannot well explain. A 

 Toad moving from the shelter of a dock-leaf, or a 

 Natterjack coming from the swamp, arrests the eye, and 

 causes one to question the appearance of such a creature 

 under such conditions. None of the same race do so. 



Weirdly strange is the fall of eventide as the shadows 

 lengthen out, and the red sun clings to the western 

 hilltops. One then thinks of the fading colours of the 

 garden, and would fain have them remain, but the Owl 

 flies over the meadow, and the dandelion shuts its 

 yellow bloom against the darkening hours. The broad 

 smile of reeking earth fades in the haze, and the still 

 silence marks the hour when the Bats fly round the 

 garden border. 



" The past is past — I see the future stretch 

 All dark and barren as a rainy sea." 



Then the Owl comes again on noiseless wing, settles 



6 9 



