AQUARELLES OF OUR COMMON WOODLANDS 
Some of the enemies of toad life are 
also shown in this group; two ribbon 
snakes on the left are ready to take toll 
of the small “spring peepers”’ which are 
whistling their high-pitched tones with 
throat bubbles well expanded, while a 
big water snake on the right has engulfed 
one of the toads. Finally the bird life 
of this time is not omitted for we note 
in trees and bush many of the warblers, 
the small flitting birds so typical of May: 
black and white creeper, Maryland yel- 
lowthroat, Blackburnian warbler, red- 
start and chestnut-sided and_ yellow 
warblers — these and others are here for 
the sharp eye to see. 
The scenic case of next appeal to me 
is the one I call the June case — I sup- 
pose it bears the more practical designa- 
tion of the “bullfrog group” in museum 
parlance. But to me it is June, late 
June, no less! A deep, sunny pool in the 
hot sunshine of mid-day is this. We 
guessed that the time-o’-day of the May 
scene was morning, from the dew-drops 
twinkling on leaf and flower, but here 
all these have evaporated, and it is high 
The scenic 
group shows the life of one of our most 
noon in warm mid-summer. 
common frogs in our common lily-padded 
pools; a scene so familiar to all that its 
appeal stirs the heart of every one of us. 
Who has not stood contemplating such a 
pool; with these clumps of blue-spiked 
pickerel weed ranging away into the 
cool backwaters under the shade of giant 
forest trees, these small turtles scram- 
bling awkwardly up over the flat lily pads 
in the foreground, that bullfrog diving 
into the deep water and leaving on the 
surface a string of bubbles as he expels 
the air from his lungs; those newts pok- 
ing their way along the bottom! Every 
detail of the scene is familiar, and no 
detail precious to memory has been 
omitted. There is our old comrade, 
the water turtle, just diving off a stump 
171 
(as we generally see him!) while the 
“bullies” are everywhere and all doing 
something that illustrates one or an- 
other of their life habits. Here is one 
that has just snatched up a mouthful of 
young water snakes, a whole squirming 
mass of them, which he is cramming into 
his mouth with a very human-like hand. 
Here is another, looking up expectantly 
at a wood mouse in a bush, for the bull- 
frog is omnivorous and will eat anything 
that he can catch and then swallow down 
his capacious throat. Here is another 
that has just snitched in a bumble-bee 
off a wild white azalea (in full blossom so 
that we know that it is late June or early 
July), and the way he does it with his ex- 
tensible tongue is well set forth. At this 
time of the year, too, frogs peel off the 
old skin, as shown by that fellow on the 
right who is just disrobing, and eating 
the old skin — frugal Frenchman — that 
nothing be lost! Bullfrog tadpoles are 
here, too. It takes about two years to get 
up to frogdom from tadpolehood, and 
the whole process, including losing one’s 
tail and living just above the water on a 
tiny snag, is shown here. Here also are 
some of the enemies of the “bullie.” A 
black snake lurks behind that azalea and 
his sinister intentions are only too evi- 
dent. One large bullfrog who has seen 
him is “playing stone,” knowing well 
that the snake’s eyesight for inanimate 
objects is not over-keen. He has gath- 
ered himself into a smooth round wuzzle 
of green, and the snake sees him not. 
The latter is so intent on a young bull- 
frog, which in his turn is so intent upon a 
chickadee just alighted on a birch branch 
above him, that a double tragedy seems 
imminent. 
To the left of this scene is the Septem- 
ber case, so-called the “ giant salamander 
group.” It is a big trout stream with 
yellow-leaved sycamore and ripening 
frost grapes hanging over, and blue asters 
