NATURE'S CALENDAR ^^ 



keep their ground. Sunfish and such j^ay ii 



are compelled to keep their distance. ~ 



There are hundreds of these bowl-shaped 

 excavations, eighteen inches or so in di- 

 ameter, all along the sandy shallows of 

 the lake." 



The striped bass are already spawning. 



As to batrachians and reptiles, larvae 

 may be obtained of the spotted and of 

 the marbled species of Amblystoina, and 

 the adults of several others, most of the 

 year terrestrial, are now inhabiting still 

 waters, though the gray salamander must 

 be looked for under stones in the woods, 

 where it will be found in mated pairs. In 

 warm waters the eggs of the green newt 

 are hatching some thirty days after being 

 laid, or longer in cool weather. 



Toads go into the water in pairs by the 

 first of this month, or a little earlier, and 

 deposit their spawn. "To find the eggs," 

 says Gage, " one should visit the natural 

 or artificial ponds so commom along 

 streams. . . . The time for finding the 

 eggs [in New York State] depends on the 

 season. The toad observes the season, 

 not the almanac. In ordinary years the 

 best time is from the middle of April to 

 the ist of May. One is often guided to 

 the right place by noticing the direc- 

 tion from which the song or call of the 

 toad comes. It may be said in passing 

 that toad choirs are composed wholly of 

 male voices. The call is more or less 

 like that of tree-toads. In general it 



