The Wilderness 



as in birds'. Once you have realized the differences you will wonder 

 however you were so stupid as to think them all the same. There 

 is the deep " Craw-craw, craw-craw " of the big green tree-frog, Hyla 

 coerulea ; the familiar chant, " Craw-awk, crawk, crok, crok," of the 

 golden tree-frog, Hyla aurea I give you their scientific names because 

 they are so charming the slow " Kuk-kuk-kuk," and the high, piping, 

 hurried " Cree-cree-cree-cree " of two other Hyjas. Then there is the 

 insect-like " Crikik, crikik " of the little brown Crinia, and the harsher 

 " creek " of the tiny brown toadlet. The two frogs which rejoice in 

 the name of Limnodynastes, " King of the pool," have quite different 

 notes. One has an explosive " Toe, toe, toe," like a machine gun, 

 and the other calls " Kuk-kuk-kuk-kuk." Then the funny old burrow- 

 ing frog calls softly " Oo-oo-oo-oo," and sounds more like a bird than 

 a frog. 



On fine mornings after rain, when the croakings overnight have 

 told me what is afoot, 1 visit the little creek to see which of the frogs 

 have spawned. A patch of froth, like soapsuds, with tiny spheres of 

 black and white embedded in it, is the egg-mass of one or other of the 

 two species of Limnodynastes. Two kinds of eggs are neatly arranged 

 in cylindrical bunches round the submerged roots and grasses. Each 

 egg is surrounded by a sphere of clear jelly, and a thin gelatinous 

 matrix envelopes all the eggs. Those of Crinia are black and white, 

 those of Hyla ewingi brown and cream. Floating on the surface, as 

 if peppered over it, are the brown-and-white eggs of Hyla coerulea ; 

 while hidden under the debris round the edges of the water I find the 

 much larger eggs of the little Pseudophryne, twenty to a nest, with the 

 gaily orange-marked mother toadlet in attendance. 



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