PEPACTON 



him for some time in the kitchen. I found he could 

 adhere to a window-pane, but could not ascend it; 

 gradually his hold yielded, till he sprang off on the 

 casing. I observed that, in sitting upon the floor or 

 upon the ground, he avoided bringing his toes in 

 contact with the surface, as if they were too tendei 

 or delicate for such coarse uses, but sat upon the 

 hind part of his feet. Said toes had a very bun- 

 gling, awkward appearance at such times; they 

 looked like hands encased in gray woolen gloves 

 much too large for them. Their round, flattened 

 ends, especially when not in use, had a comically 

 helpless look. 



After a while I let my prisoner escape into the 

 open air. The weather had grown much colder, 

 and there was a hint of coming frost. The toad 

 took the hint at once, and, after hopping a few yards 

 from the door to the edge of a grassy bank, began 

 to prepare for winter. It was a curious proceeding. 

 He went into the ground backward, elbowing him- 

 self through the turf with the sharp joints of his 

 hind legs, and going down in a spiral manner. His 

 progress was very slow : at night I could still see 

 him by lifting the grass ; and as the weather changed 

 again to warm, with southerly winds before morn- 

 ing, he stopped digging entirely. The next day I 

 took him out, and put him into a bottomless tub 

 sunk into the ground and filled with soft earth, 

 leaves, and leaf mould, where he passed the win- 

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