The American Toad, Bufo lentiginosus americanus LeConte. 27 



degrees or more. To recapitulate : when the air reaches 53 to 57 degrees 

 we have the lowest temperatures at which to expect toads emerging; as 

 the air-temperature ascends from 57 to 64 degrees, we may predict 

 them with a certainty. 



THE VOICE. 



The instant the toad fully awakens, its chief concern is to reach 

 water. If it appears in March, frequently an interval of 18 to 35 days 

 elapses before the first note; if, however, first emergence comes in April, 

 the interval is negligible or from 1 to 4 days. An average interval 

 for 12 years is 10 days. The note of the toad is long sustained, quite 

 musical, rather high in pitch, and wholly unlike that of the other 7 

 forms herein considered. Their low variable trills or pipings in chorus 

 are rather pleasing and do not especiallj^ annoy, even though continued 

 day and night during the height of their breeding season. The first 

 notes of the species for several years are: 



An average date of the beginning of singing is April 18; the earliest, 

 March 30, 1910; the latest, April 27, 1905. It appears from the above 

 that a maximum air-temperature of 60 degrees or more is the rule for 

 the first trill of this species at Ithaca. For the day preceding the record, 

 the maxima average 62 degrees ; on the day of the record no maximum 

 is beneath 60 degrees (one exception) and the average is 66 ; and each 

 record ^\dth one exception is flanked on one or both sides by tempera- 

 tures of 60 degrees or more. The first record of song in spring is almost 

 invariably at night. The chorus-stage begins about 10 days after the 

 first trill, or April 28, the extremes being April 23 and May 6. The 

 chorus maxima do not descend below 60 degrees and average 69 to 71 

 degrees. A consideration of 44 voice-records shows 14 maxima between 

 50 and 60 degrees, 23 between 60 and 70 degrees, 33 between 70 and 80 

 degrees, 17 between 80 and 90 degrees, and 1 above 90 degrees, or 

 averages of 68 degrees for the day previous to the record and 71 degrees 

 for the day of the record. During the very last of April and through 



