328 RAMBLES ABOUT HOME. 



to be hiding in a cedar or in a weeping-willow, and it is 

 evident that trees so widely different would make it ne- 

 cessary that their movements when in pursuit of insects 

 should be quite different, for they do not sit quietly in 

 one spot, trusting to sufficient prey coming within their 

 reach. I have not been able to learn how far these ani- 

 mals vary in the choice of their haunts, as I know them 

 almost only as frequenting the apple-trees. 



As is well known, the tree-toad is nocturnal and cre- 

 puscular in its habits. By day it sits very still in some 

 quiet nook. By sitting still it must not be supposed 

 that it makes no noise. Far from it. Let a patch of 

 cloud as big as a barn-door cast a shadow over it, and the 

 fretful fellow at once begins to croak. This croak is so 

 very generally regarded as a sign of rain, that it almost 

 invariably calls forth the remark, " It is going to rain," 

 from some one who has happened to hear it. Even the 

 Indians looked upon it in this light, and so did the Swedes 

 in South Jersey. I am sorry, however, to have to say 

 that the toads in the apple-trees have undermined my 

 faith in the "sign," as they have not shown themselves 

 superior in prophetic ability to the man who gravely in- 

 forms us what the weather will be when the indications 

 are unmistakable. The croaks and the coming rain, so 

 far as my apple-tree toads are concerned, are mere coinci- 

 dences nothing more as the following observations 

 will show : In 1880 the tree-toads croaked every day 

 from May 9th to July 12th, both inclusive, and there 

 were but six wet days during the sixty-five. The next 

 summer gave the same results ; and during the early part 

 of the summer of 1882, during which there was a consid- 

 erable drought, it was the same thing. They croaked 

 more or less every day, hot or cool, sunshine or clouds, 

 and far more at noon-time than either in the early morn- 



