INTRODUCTION 



disposition when in the tadpole state, and again when 

 leaving their watery home for the first time, it is strange 

 that a more or less solitary life is led until parental calls 

 come to them in Spring. Strange too, but none the less 

 true, that all the Frogs (and later the Toads) of one's 

 own neighbourhood should arrive at the conclusion 

 at about the same time that spawning time is due. During 

 the Winter they have been in hiding, passing the lone 

 days and cold nights in a state of suspended animation, in 

 odd corners and places safe from danger. Then, at the 

 magic call of the sun, they awake from their torpor, and 

 the great rush to the old breeding quarters comes to pass. 

 If one catches them at the height of their journey, a 

 wondrous sight meets the eye as the amphibians are seen 

 approaching the water from all four points of the compass. 

 Many, as in the march during infancy, perish by the way, 

 impaled by the Heron's dagger-like beak, or a Hawk's 

 fierce claw. Others again are crushed under foot, or 

 run over. But the fittest pass through the great journey 

 unscathed, and they make for the water where, the 

 battalions having taken up positions at the breeding 

 ground, they commence to search for partners with 

 much croaking and ceremony. True they exhibit at such 

 time somewhat repulsive antics, as groups of several 

 individuals may be found in one writhing mass, but 

 this must be overlooked when one remembers the low 

 type of creature which sometimes carries out the per- 

 petuation of its species in the manner indicated. The 



male of both Frog and Toad is distinctly the smaller of 



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