314: RAMBLES ABOUT HOME. 



beginning to make their noise in spring, at the same 

 time when the people here go catching what are called 

 herrings, which, however, differ greatly from the true 

 European herrings. These frogs have a peculiar note, 

 which is not like that of our European frogs, but rather 

 corresponds with the chirping of some large birds, and 

 can nearly be expressed by pi-cet (pee-seet). With this 

 noise they continue throughout a great part of spring, 

 beginning their noise soon after sun-setting and finishing 

 it just before sun-rising. The sound was sharp, but yet 

 so loud that it could be heard at a great distance. When 

 they expected rain they cried much worse than commonly, 

 and began in the middle of the day or when it grew 

 cloudy, and the rain came usually six hours after. As it 

 snowed on the 16th of the next month (April), and blew 

 very violently all day, there was not the least sign of 

 them at night, and during the whole time that it was cold, 

 and while the snow was on the fields, the frost had so 

 silenced them, that we could not hear one ; but, as soon as 

 the mild weather returned, they began their noise again. 

 They were very timorous, and it was difficult to catch 

 them, for as soon as a person approached the place where 

 they lived, they are quite silent, and none of them ap- 

 peared. It seems that they hide themselves entirely 

 under water, except the tip of the snout, when they cry ; 

 for, when I stepped to the pond where they were in, I 

 could not observe a single one hopping into the water. 

 I could not see any of them before I had emptied a whole 

 pool where they lodged in. Their color is a dirty green, 

 variegated with spots of brown. When they are touched, 

 they make a noise and moan ; they then sometimes as- 

 sume a form as if they had blown up the hind part of the 

 back, so that it makes a high elevation ; and then they do 

 not stir, though touched." 



