SONGS TO THE SUN 81 



were spawning, but of the hundreds of toads not 

 one was to be seen or dug up from among the dead 

 leaves beyond the bank. 



Another time I found hundreds of toads issuing 

 from a long brick wall bounding for, perhaps, a 

 mile Osterley Park in Middlesex. A road runs 

 next the wall, and the toads were flopping about 

 the road shouting their mellow call, that of the 

 female about a third lower than that of the male, 

 making together a perfect babel of oily music. The 

 sun had fetched them out from a maze of sleep- 

 ing-places in the decayed foundation of the wall, 

 and they were perfectly heedless of the fact that 

 they were on a high road a fact marked by more 

 than a dozen bodies that had been crushed by the 

 wheels of bicycles and motor-cars that had gone 

 by. What made the concourse more mysterious 

 was the fact that though I looked well, I could 

 find no trace of any pond within hundreds of 

 yards of the place, on the road side of the wall. 



It is known, of course, that frogs and toads 

 both breed in the water. But it does seem as 

 though either of them could manage to produce 

 young that would grow to maturity without an 

 actual pond or pool. I have found frogs of all 

 sizes in a walled garden of rank wet grass not 

 far from where an old pond had been, but two 

 or three years after the pond had gone and the 

 garden had been enclosed. 



The habits adopted by species of frogs through- 

 out the world are many and various. The well- 

 F 



