TKHben (Brass is <3rccn 



happen is not that which does occur in the toad- 

 world any more than in human affairs. Then we 

 hear much of toads that have been hundreds of 

 years in rocks and come out alive when released. 

 Look the other way and laugh when you hear 

 this. It might be dangerous to laugh in the nar- 

 rator's face. I speak from experience. " Do you 

 mean to call me a liar ? " the man asked excitedly. 

 "No," I replied. " Well, you look as if you were 

 doin' a mighty sight o' thinkin' in that direction." 

 And the man was right. 



Our common toad is a very quiet and most 

 useful creature, and if not to be commended for 

 looks, has the undoubted merit of a good voice, 

 for I have never heard any one decry the " song " 

 of the toad as it rings out over the meadows and 

 along our creeks, during the evening, and often, 

 when the days .are cloudy, from morning until 

 night. I will not attempt to describe it; let this 

 be the reader's work during the coming summer, 

 for work it will prove, to accurately put in print 

 what the toad, or any frog, or even the peeping 

 hyla says or sings. Animal voices are to be stud- 

 ied when the animals utter them, and there is no 

 field work better adapted to test all our faculties 

 than what may be called " voice-hunting," or fol- 

 lowing some one sound to its source and positive- 

 ly identifying the creature. Toads vary their voices 

 somewhat, and have a knack, too, of ventrilo- 

 quizing, and you may find the animal a hundred 

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