60 



^nd noon. When the breeding season is over they may still be found, 

 3but with difficulty, among fallen leaves in low places, where their color 

 admirably adapts them for concealment, or in cellars, or on the ground in 

 the woods. Not till the near approach of autumn do we have evidence 

 of their ascent into the trees. Then, when the wind is casting the first 

 frosted leaves to the ground, a whistle, weaker than the spring cry, is 

 heard, repeated at intervals during the day, from one part of the forest to 

 another, bearing considerable resemblance to the note of the purple finch, 

 ottered as it is while flying. These voices are heard during the same 

 season, that of the Hijla being distinguishable as slightly coarser, or more 

 like a squeak. Both are associated with the weak chirp of the late Den- 

 drceca coronata as it gleans its insect food on its southern flight. These are 

 the latest sounds of autumn, and soon disappear before the steady advance 

 of the ice king." (Cope, 51, 354.) 



DeKay (30, 69) says that this species is abundant in the neighborhood 

 of New York, and that they are often to be seen on Indian corn and grape 

 vines, and in greenhouses, under the leaves of plants during the heat of 

 summer. He says that they feed on small flies ; but it is not probable 

 that they restrict themselves to such small creatures. Mr. S. P. Fowler 

 sent the editors of the American Naturalist a beautiful fawn-colored spec- 

 imen, which he had found imbedded in a heap of grass in his garden on 

 November 25. 



The eggs are laid in bunches of from 4 to 10, and are about one-twelfth 

 of an inch in diameter. The eggs and larv?e in various stages of devel- 

 opment are figured by Prof. Baird in Cope's " Batrachia of N. A." He 

 states that the eggs are laid May 15. Smith says (IS, 707,) that in 

 Maine the eggs are deposited in April. According to Prof. Baird's state- 

 ments, the young are able to swim within four days. For further details 

 on breeding habits see Miss Hinckley's paper in Mem. Bost. Loc. Nat. 

 Hist., vol. V, pp. 311-318. 



Some larvae of 2)i(^kermgii which I have examined in the National 

 Museum, at Washington, and which had the tail of full size, were a little 

 less than an inch in length. Other young which had just transformed 

 were only seven-sixteenths inch long. Prof Blatchley reports finding 

 this frog at Terre Haute, April 8, at the margin of a pond, to which they 

 had evidently resorted in order to deposit their eggs. Two were kejit in 

 captivity several weeks, and regularly at 8 p. M. they began their piping 

 notes, and kept them up about an hour. After this they were silent until 

 the next evening. The gular sac would be inflated until it was two-thirds 

 as large as the animal itself, when the air would be forced out, producing 

 the notes. (9i, '91, 27.) 



