6 



Though living alone through the summer, it is not an uncommon 

 thing to find a dozen or more toads hibernating in a colony under some 

 convenient rock or board. Winter quarters are sought quite early in 

 the fall beneath rocks, leaves, or rubbish, or in other places where the 

 action of the frost will not be severely felt. Figuier states that these 

 animals freeze without being killed, and it is not unusual to find toads 

 in winter apparently frozen stiff some distance below the surface of 

 the soil. 



FEEDING HABITS. 



Soon after sundown, or even before on cool evenings, the toad 

 emerges from its shelter and sallies forth in search of food. In 

 country districts it nightly patrols over roadsides, gardens, cultivated 

 and new-mown fields — in short, all places where insect life abounds 

 and long grass or herbage does not obstruct its travel. In cities and 

 villages the spots beneath electric lights are particularly favored, 

 while lawns and walks also receive attention. The toad has learned 

 that electric and other lights attract large numbers of flying insects, 

 many of which fall injured to the ground below. At Amherst, Mass., 

 the writer once observed eight well-fed toads holding festival beneath 

 an arc light. During the flying season of the brown-tail moth in 

 Massachusetts there is no more common night scene than that of the 

 toads devouring the white moths which fall fluttering from the lamps 

 above. 



For two successive summers the writer had opportunity to make 

 numerous observations on toads feeding under natural conditions at 

 all hours of the night. From these observations and from stomach 

 examinations it was apparent that the toad feeds continuously through- 

 out the night, except when its food supply is unusually abundant, 

 when periods of feeding and resting alternate. From such observa- 

 tions, as well as by studying toads confined in cages, it was found that 

 in twenty-four hours the toad consumed a quantity of insect food 

 equal to about four times its stomach capacity. In other words, the 

 toad's stomach is practically filled and emptied four times in each 

 twenty-four hours. 



Dead or motionless food has little attraction for the toad. Only 

 living and moving insects, centipedes, etc., are devoured. Cutworms, 

 for example, are safe while they remain curled up, but let them com- 

 mence crawling and they are soon snapped up by the toad. At first 

 thought it strikes one as odd that the toad's tongue is attached in front 

 and free behind, particularly as the tongue is its only means for cap- 

 turing food. However, one needs only to watch the feeding of a toad 

 for a few minutes to satisfy himself that this organ is well adapted to 

 its work. The tongue is coated with a glutinous secretion and adheres 

 firmly to the food it seizes. When the writer first took up the study 



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