WILD CREATURES OF GARDEN AND HEDGEROW 



his welfare, which is the real reason that he 

 only roams abroad by night. His skin and 

 tissues are full of moisture, he has special 

 reserves of water inside him, and if kept for 

 long in a hot dry place would soon dry up and 

 die. I have seen a toad which had fallen into 

 a greenhouse pit, and which was lean and 

 scraggy when rescued, swell out in a basin of 

 water, and soon become once more a fat and 

 comfortable-looking creature. The moisture is 

 taken into the tissues by absorbing it through 

 the skin, and that which is lost escapes in the 

 same way. All this explains why the toad dis- 

 likes the sun so why he only comes out when 

 the evening air begins to grow chill, the dew 

 to fall, and the light to fade. Then, with other 

 creatures of the dark, he creeps forth from his 

 den. From the cabbage patch, from the rows 

 of potatoes, from a score or more of hiding- 

 places, the toads creep forth. Fat and portly 

 people they are, the females being the biggest, 

 and the males a little smaller, but all are stout 

 and thick-set and waddle stolidly along. Now 

 for the business of the night ! Those bright, 

 sharp eyes peep everywhere in the dim light, 

 and an insect here and an insect there disappear 

 as if by magic. The deed is done so quickly 

 100 



