246 MONTANA EXPERIMENT STATION. 



very quick .motion the tongue leaves the mouth, touches and picks 

 up the food, and returns. So quick is the motion that the* eye can 

 scarcely follow it. 



While out on their foraging expeditions these animals show in- 

 teresting traits. J\li. Kirkland observed eight good-sized toads 

 seated under an arc light engaged in picking up insects, which, de- 

 prived of their wings, fell from the lamp above. A physician in 

 Maiden, Dr. Charles Burleigh, observed that a colony of some half 

 dozen toads made their abode under his piazza, and each summer 

 night about eight o'clock went forth down the walk and into the 

 street where they stationed themselves under an arc light. Here 

 they fed upon the insects that fell from the lamp until the electric 

 current was turned off when they returned to their accustomei 

 shelter. From his observations, Mr. Kirkland concluded that mider 

 ordinary conditions toads feed continuously throughout the r'ight 

 except where food is abundant. He observed thnt iti twenty-four 

 hours the food consumed was equal to "four times the stomach 

 capacity. 



It would be interesting to follow in detail the results of Mr. 

 Kirkland's examination of the stomach contents of 149 toads but we 

 must abbreviate and summarize. 



Various investigators have shown, and it is a matter of common 

 observation, that the toad takes pretty much any living animal food 

 that crosses its path, provided it is not too large to be swallowed 

 whole. It follows then that in various parts of the country the diet 

 of the toad will be determined largely by what are the common in- 

 sects found on the ground and low-growing vegetation, where the 

 toad can reach them. The following table by Mr. Kirkland shows 

 the results of the examination of 149 stomachs contents, in Mas- 

 sachusetts. Were such a study to be made in Montana the gener- 

 al character of the food would be the same but in detail it would 

 be very different. 



Unidentified material 5 per cent. 



Gravel i per cent. 



Vegetable detritus i per cent. 



Worms I per cent. 



Snails i per cent. 



