THE SPRING PEEPERS 9 



have ever stood in the bog, with a tuning-fork in hand, 

 to test the matter scientifically, but in my frequent ef- 

 fort to mimic the pure, shrill tone with my own inade- 

 quate whistle, an effort which, patiently continued, has 

 more than once evoked a lively response from a sus- 

 picious though silent pool in the spring woods, I have 

 discovered that no pucker of mine can quite produce 

 the pitch of this fine water whistle of the Hylodes, or 

 Pickering's frog. He is usually from one to three notes 

 above me, while in the matter of quality he leaves me 

 far behind. Thus the limit of my whistle is C, while 

 the peep of the Pickering's frog begins at E above, as 

 I now recall it, the crescendo being given on F. This 

 seems to be the approximate key of the vernal song. 

 What influence the peculiar exuberance of the season 

 may exert on that impassioned voice I know not, but I 

 do know that the mysterious peep which I occasionally 

 hear from the autumn trees for our Pickering's frog is 

 a "tree-toad" at this season never seems to possess 

 the peculiar spring quality. 



I have said that he wets his whistle. Let us see. For 

 even though we approach near enough to get a good 

 look at the singer, it would probably be difficult to iden- 

 tify him from the pointed nose and the two tiny bulg- 

 ing eyes that are all he permits to be seen above the 

 water; nor even these for long, unless we are very wary. 



But we are safe in assuming that we have heard the 

 Hylodes, probably Hylodes Pickeringi ; or, if not, we 

 have needlessly confounded him with another related 

 singer, the cricket -frog Hylodes gryllus of the earlier 

 naturalists, but now designated by Baird as Acris crepi- 

 tans, and popularly known as the " Savannah cricket." 

 These are the two rival marsh peepers, and it is a "toss 



