Common "Coad 



My pet toad Lumpy always gets his bug. I like to watch 

 him at twilight as he hops around the apple tree collecting 

 his supper. Life for Lumpy is one grand mealtime, except- 

 ing only the hours he spends asleep in some secluded place. 



A toad will eat anything he can swallow as long as it's 

 alive and wiggling. This means he does away with hordes 

 of bugs, snails, earthworms, flies, and mosquitoes. 



He captures these with his remarkable tongue. Like that 

 of the tree frog, it is attached to the front of his mouth, and 

 flashes out with lightning speed to catch food on its sticky 

 surface. 



Although a toad is chiefly a creature of the land, he does 

 spend a few days of the spring in the water. This is courting 

 time, and while it lasts the male serenades his lady with one 

 of the sweetest trilling songs to be heard anywhere in na- 

 ture. During the toad's stay in the water he is beautiful. 

 His skin is a rich caramel brown, and his eyes are clear 

 orbits flecked with gold. Shakespeare spoke of a toad's eye 

 as having the brightness of a diamond. 



After the egg spawning season is over, toads leave the 

 water for land. There they live a dusty life close to the 

 ground, absorbing needed water in the form of moisture 

 through their warty skin. 



A toad is a friendly creature. And he will not give one 

 warts. All he wants is to be left alone to carry on his im- 

 portant business of catching insects to satisfy his enormous 

 appetite. 



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