144 PEPACTON 



touch it. I put it in his mouth, but he threw it 

 contemptuously from him. We coaxed and petted 

 and reassured him, but he was under a spell; he 

 was bereft of all thought or desire but the one pas- 

 sion to pursue that trail. 



THE TREE-TOAD 



We can boast a greater assortment of toads and 

 frogs in this country than can any other land. 

 What a chorus goes up from our ponds and marshes 

 in spring ! The like of it cannot be heard anywhere 

 else under the sun. In Europe it would certainly 

 have made an impression upon the literature. An 

 attentive ear will detect first one variety, then 

 another, each occupying the stage from three or 

 four days to a week. The latter part of April; 

 when the little peeping frogs are in full chorus, one 

 comes upon places, in his drives or walks late in the 

 day, where the air fairly palpitates with sound; 

 from every little marshy hollow and spring run 

 there rises an impenetrable maze or cloud of shrill 

 musical voices. After the peepers, the next frog 

 to appear is the clucking frog, a rather small, dark- 

 brown frog, with a harsh, clucking note, which 

 later in the season becomes the well-known brown 

 wood-frog. Their chorus is heard for a few days 

 only, while their spawn is being deposited. In 

 less than a week it ceases, and I never hear them 

 again till the next April. As the weather gets 

 warmer, the toads take to the water, and set up 

 that long-drawn musical tr-r-r-r-r-r-r-ing note. The 



