52 THOSE OTHER ANIMALS. 



to being dry, who are comfortably clothed in handsome 

 waterproof jackets, and prefer to eat their food raw to 

 cooking it. In some respects the frog has an advantage 

 over the human being. He has no trouble whatever with 

 his family, which is a large one, for, from the first, tadpoles 

 are able to set themselves up in life without assistance from 

 their parents. 



Frogs vary in colour and habit in different countries 

 fully as much as do the human race. Although, as a 

 family, they prefer marshy places, some species never go 

 near the water from the time they emerge from the tadpole 

 state until they return to it full of family cares. There are 

 other kinds which make their living among trees, climbing 

 with great sureness of foot, rivalling the leaves in their hue, 

 and feeding upon the insects that frequent them. This 

 power of adaptation to circumstances must be taken as 

 another proof of the intellectual development of the frog, 

 and, had the race received as much consideration from 

 man as has fallen to the lot of many animals, there is 

 no saying to what point their intellectual faculties would 

 have developed. As it is, it cannot be denied that they 

 compare not unfavourably with similarly neglected human 

 beings, and the frog can, at least, claim to be on a level 

 with a Digger Indian. 



Whether the frog is endowed with courage is a moot 

 point. He has not, it is true, been seen to dispute the 

 passage of his favourite haunts with wild beasts, or even 

 with horses or oxen ; but this may arise from magnanimity 

 as well as from want of courage, and he may feel that, 

 being able to enjoy the pool at all times, it would be 

 unjust to grudge a drink occasionally to thirsty animals. 



