British Reptiles and Amphibians 



Although a full-grown Frog is only some 3 inches 

 in length, it possesses a very pronounced voice. It 

 gives vent to a loud croak, and there is something 

 attractive about a " Frog concert " when heard in the 

 still evening by the edge of some lonely roadway. 



Frogs hibernate after the fashion of their kind. 

 They pass the winter months in holes of almost any 

 description. The warmth of spring again forces them 

 from these retreats, when they at once commence love- 

 making. These creatures often live to a great age, 

 and several are known to the writer that have lived in 

 a city garden for twenty and thirty years. 



The Edible Frog (Rana esculenta, Plate XV.). 



Students, collectors, and the general body of amateur 

 naturalists, have as a rule a desire to add to and 

 augment the number of native species of animals or 

 plants in which they have a special interest. The 

 ornithologist is keen on including in the British fauna 

 the Sand Grouse, Glossy Ibis, Bohemian Wagwing, 

 and others ; the entomologist aims at fixing on his list 

 the exotic specimen that accidentally reaches our shores 

 in a batch of imported fruit ; the botanist's fond hope 

 is to locate some rare plant where no such plant ever 

 existed before. It is all so very excusable, as one may 

 judge human nature. 



In keeping with the text, the Edible Frog and its 

 claim to inclusion in the British fauna may be put in 

 the same questionable category. No doubt this animal 



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