Extraordinary Capture of Snakes. 303 



dairies sometimes for the milk spilled on the flag- 

 stones of the floor. 1 They may often be found in 

 the furrows in the meadows, which act as surface 

 drains and are damp. 



Frogs have some power of climbing. I have 

 found them on the roofs of outhouses which were 

 covered with ivy ; they must have got up the ivy. 

 Their toes are, indeed, to a certain degree prehen- 

 sile, and they can cling with them. They sometimes 

 make a low sound while in the ivy on such roofs ; to 

 m} r ear it sounds like a hoarse ' coo.' Cats occasion- 

 ally catch frogs by the leg, and torment them, letting 

 the creature go only to seize it again, and finally de- 

 vouring it. The wretched creature squeals with pain 

 and terror exactly as when caught b}^ a snake. 



No surer sign of coming rain than the appearance 

 of the toad on the garden paths is known. Many 



1 An extraordinary instance of this has been very kindly 

 communicated to me by the writer of the following letter : 



'KINGSTON VICARAGE, WAREHAM, DORSET, 

 October 27, 1878. 



'DEAR SIR, Apropos of your reference to the notion that 

 snakes drink milk, I think it may interest you to hear of a 

 curious instance of this which occurred near here about three 

 months ago. At Kingswood, the home farm of Kempstone 

 (Mr. J. H. Calcraft's place, near Corfe Castle), the dairyman 

 noticed that something seemed to enter the dairy through a 

 hole in the wall and take the milk. Thinking it was a mouse 

 or rat, he set a common gin at the hole, and caught a snake 

 every day until he had caught seventeen ! Mr. Calcraft 

 would corroborate this. My informant is Mr Bankes, rector 

 of Corfe Castle, who heard it from the dairyman himself. 

 'Faithfully yours, 



1 S. C. SPENCER SMITH/ 



