NOTES BY THE WAY. 167 



and hollow trees, instead of in the mud of ponds and 

 marshes, like true frogs, as we have been taught. 

 The pair in the old apple-tree above referred to, I 

 heard on a warm, moist day late in November, and 

 again early in April. On the latter occasion, I 

 reached my hand down into the cavity of the tree 

 and took out one of the toads. It was the first I 

 had heard, and I am convinced it had passed the 

 winter in the moist, mud-like mass of rotten wood 

 that partially filled the cavity. It had a fresh, deli- 

 cate tint, as if it had not before seen the light that 

 spring. The president of a Western college writes 

 in " Science News," that two of his students found 

 one in the winter in an old stump which they demol- 

 ished ; and a person whose veracity I have no reason 

 to doubt sends me a specimen that he dug out of the 

 ground in December while hunting for Indian relics. 

 The place was on the top of a hill, under a pine-tree. 

 The ground was frozen on the surface, and the toad 

 was, of course, torpid. 



During the present season, I obtained additional 

 proof of the fact that the tree-toad hibernates on dry 

 land. The 12th of November was a warm, spring- 

 like day ; wind southwest, with slight rain in the 

 afternoon, just the day to bring things out of their 

 winter retreats. As I was about to enter my door at 

 dusk, my eye fell upon what proved to be the large 

 tree-toad in question, sitting on some low stone-work 

 at the foot of a terrace a few feet from the house. I 

 paused to observe his movements. Presently he 



