164 NOTES BY THE WAY. 



most interesting and the most shy and withdrawn of 

 all our frogs and toads is the tree-toad, the creat- 

 ure that, from the old apple or cherry-tree, or red 

 cedar, announces the approach of rain, and baffles 

 your every effort to see or discover him. It has not 

 (as some people imagine) exactly the power of the 

 chameleon to render itself invisible by assuming the 

 color of the object it perches upon, but it sits very 

 close and still, and its mottled back, of different shades 

 of ashen gray, blends it perfectly with the bark of 

 nearly every tree. The only change in its color I 

 have ever noticed, is that it is lighter on a light-col- 

 ored tree, like the beech or soft maple, and darker 

 on the apple, or cedar, or pine. Then it is usually 

 hidden in some cavity or hollow of the tree, when 

 its voice appears to come from the outside. 



Most of my observations upon the habits of this 

 creature run counter to the authorities I have been 

 able to consult on the subject. 



In the first place, the tree-toad is nocturnal in its 

 habits, like the common toad. By day it remains 

 motionless and concealed, by night it is as alert and 

 active as an owl, feeding and moving about from 

 tree to tree. I have never known one to change its 

 position by day, and never knew one to fail to do so 

 by night. Last summer one was discovered sitting 

 against a window upon a climbing rose-bush. The 

 house had not been occupied for some days, and when 

 the curtain was drawn, the toad was discovered and 

 flosely observed. His light gray color harmonized 



