216 BULL FROG. 



sively irksome and unpleasant. In the fens of Lincoln- 

 shire, they have the ludicrous and ironical appellation of; 

 Dutch Nightingales, and Boston Waits. Frogs are used 

 as food on the continent ; and, it is said, that at Vienna 

 a scarcity of Frogs would occasion as much discontent 

 as a scarcity of corn in other places. They are brought 

 from the country, thirty or forty thousand at a time 

 to be sold to the Frog-dealers in Vienna, who keep 

 them in large holes in the ground, of four or five feet in 

 depth, covered with a board, and during the winter with 

 straw. 



The principal difference betwixt the Common and the 

 Edible Frog, consists in the former having its back 

 flattish, and somewhat angulated ; and the latter having 

 the back very much elevated, the abdomen with a mar- 

 gin, and the body of a green colour, marked with three 

 yellow lines. 



Bull Frog. This is an animal of enormous size, some- 

 times measuring eighteen inches and upwards, from the 

 nose to the hind feet. It is chiefly found in the morassy 

 parts of America, where its croaking noise is said to be 

 as loud and hoarse as the bellowing of a bull, and to be 

 audible, in a calm night, to the distance of a mile and 

 half. These Frogs leap with so much rapidity, that, when 

 at full stretch, a horse would scarcely be able to overtake 

 them. Their voracity is such, that they will carry off and 

 devour young chickens, ducks, goslings, and other small 

 animals. 



Their colour is a dusky olive-brown, marked with 

 numerous spots ; and lighter beneath than above. The 

 external membranes of the ears are large, round, and of 

 a brownish-red colour, surrounded by a margin, which is 

 somewhat yellowish. 



