The W i I d c r n c s s 



All are amusing, as frogs have ever been since the days of Aesop 

 and Aristophanes ; but there is none so amusing as the big green 

 tree-frog, Hyla coerulea. He is the one that makes the great frog con- 

 cert in moist places, and many a 

 bad steeper has cursed him for 

 croaking on all through the 

 hours of darkness. But once 

 you have seen one of these frog 

 gatherings you can never feel 

 quite the same about their 

 chorus. Amusement will temper 

 your irritation. They come from 

 all round the neighbourhood to 

 the meeting place, and in the 

 dusk you may even trip over the 

 large green frogs hopping along 

 the footpath on their way from 

 neighbouring gardens. Often 

 the gathering numbers hun- 

 dreds, and they sit about the 

 edge of the pond, in the grass, 

 and on the stones, chanting 



A balloon almost as 

 big as the frog itself 



loudly. And at each deep note 

 a great balloon swells out in 



front of the throat, a balloon almost as big as the frog itself, going 

 up and down, up and down, as each deep note goes out and the 

 breath comes back for the next boom. I know of nothing in the whole 



