It is strange that the matter with regard to the 



venom of toads has not been yet settled. That they 

 are not noxious to some animals is plain ; for ducks, 

 buzzards, owls, stone-curlews, and snakes eat them, to my know- 

 ledge, with impunity. And I well remember the time, but was not 

 an eye-witness to the fact (though numbers of persons were), when 

 a quack at this village ate a toad, to make the country people stare ; 

 afterwards he drank oil. 



I have been informed also that some ladies (ladies, you will say, 

 of peculiar taste) took a fancy to a toad, which they nourished 

 summer after summer for many years, till he grew to a monstrous 

 size, with the maggots, which turn to flesh-flies. The reptile used 

 to come forth every evening from a hole under the garden steps ; 

 and was taken up, after supper, on the table to be fed. 



But at last a tame raven, kenning him as he put forth his head, 

 gave him such a severe stroke with his horny beak as put out one 

 eye. After this accident, the creature languished for some time and 

 died. G. W. 



