NATURE'S CALENDAR 73 



As usually happens the restoration of 

 bird life to the land and the prospect of 

 eggs and fledglings is accompanied by the 

 revival of their principal enemy the ser- 

 pent. April sees all the snakes come 

 forth, except, perhaps, the rattlesnakes 

 and copperheads; and seeking the sun- 

 niest and smoothest places they are now 

 constantly encountered in the roads and' 

 paths, or coiled up on warm stone walls. 



The salamanders are all out before the 

 end of the month, and several are making 

 their way to the water to breed. They 

 are to be found in the forests under 

 stones and logs, or amid decaying stumps. 

 The little vermilion red newt abounds 

 everywhere in the woods (though rather 

 rare in northeastern New Jersey), appear- 

 ing in thousands after warm rains. This 

 is a youthful terrestrial form of the com- 

 mon green newt of ponds, which becomes 

 large and green when it takes to the 

 water when about three years old. "This 

 salamander, according to the observations 

 of Professors Gage and Cope, lays its 

 eggs [seemingly all the year round] sin- 

 gly in the leaves of plants or on stones. 

 The larvae are more or less of the irides- 

 cent color of the adult, and . . . most of 

 them lose their gills and leave the water 

 at the end of the first season, to gradu- 

 ally assume the terrestrial form with its 

 distinctive red coloration. This stage is 

 believed to continue ' until the autumn of 

 the third or spring of the fourth year 



April 19 



