Tldben <5ra0s is <5reen 



In natural history it is different. Too often it 

 happens that the practical hunters and fishermen 

 have the truth in hand, and what the naturalist 

 assumes as a fact is only a fancy. It is well to ap- 

 ply to your own neighborhood with some care what 

 is written in the books. It may not apply at all, 

 and so the safe plan is to get the opinion of the 

 people who are likely to know. Natural histories 

 deal in generalities, and as every bird and beast 

 has the problem of life to solve for itself, it will do 

 so differently in accordance with its surroundings. 

 It is not difficult to find many exceptions to the 

 ordinary rule. 



IX 



How often it happens when walking in the woods 

 in autumn, after all the summer birds have left, 

 or the over-staying ones have become silent, that 

 we hear a clear, bell-like peep pe-weep, just as 

 we heard from the cricket, frog, or rattler in early 

 spring or on some warm day in early March. It is 

 not uttered by the same frog by any means. The 

 sound often comes from the top of some tall tree 

 or from the bushes, and never from the ground. 

 You are apt to think of some belated warbler bound 

 south and bewailing his misfortune. 



This autumn minstrel is not a true frog, but a 

 tree-toad, and is known to all naturalists as Picker- 

 ing's hyla. It differs from the frogs proper by hav- 



