MAY. 115 



which he accordingly did, and found a very large green frog, 

 which was dead of course,, but unbroken. It seems impossi- 

 ble that so slender an animal as a snake can swallow or con- 

 tain so large a creature as a frog, but the jaws, throat, and 

 body, are capable of prodigious distension. 



C. I have read that the sloughs of snakes are an object 

 of superstition with some Indian tribes, and are used in their 

 pretended magical rites. 



F. They are also an indispensable article in the nests of 

 some birds ; perhaps from their softness, as they are ex- 

 tremely thin and smooth. 



I have lately perceived the young deep green leaves 

 of the Wild Leek (Allium Vincale) sprouting through the 

 dead leaves on the ground, in the maple woods. This plant 

 is greedily eaten by the cattle, probably because anything 

 fresh and green is now acceptable to them ; but if milch 

 cows eat it, it gives a strong and unpleasant taste to their 

 milk, so as sometimes to make it unfit for use. This flavour 

 is in a considerable degree dissipated by slightly heating it 

 as soon as brought in. 



C. I was much deceived last evening in a sound I 

 heard : as I was standing in the field behind the house, about 

 twilight, I heard what seemed to be the rattling of a thou- 

 sand carriages on a rough road, about half a mile off. I 

 could not think what it could be ; but on going towards it, 

 I found it proceeded from the marshy spot below the bam, 

 and on my approaching discovered that it was nothing more 

 than the cackling and croaking of myriads of frogs. As I 

 came pretty close, I could see one after another splash into 

 the water, and the croaking gradually grew less and less 

 until it altogether ceased. I had not left them long, how- 

 ever, before they tuned up their musical throats again, and 



