THE WAYLIFE BEGINS 37 



one day, there is a perfectly formed frog on a small scale. 

 He sits, through the long hours, on stick or stone or lily-pad 



With Arms Akimbo. 



The little forearms are used to hold up the body while the 

 long muscular hind legs are ready for the leap to safety. 

 He feeds on insects and worms now, and though he looks 

 and acts sluggish he is capable of very rapid motion. Let 

 an insect approach and the sticky tongue, fastened at the 

 front of the mouth, just the reverse of ours, flashes outward 

 and folds around the prey. Frogs never drink, but take 

 most of their water through the moist skin which is shed 

 three or four times a year as the frog grows. 



Frogs and their cousins, the toads, escape the rigors of 

 winter by retreating, hind end first, into the moist earth 

 and pond bottoms below the frost line. They are neither 

 dead nor asleep, but are in a condition of reduced or lowered 

 vitality, called hibernation. This is a very economical way 

 to spend the long months of cold. A little warmth in the 

 early spring serves to call them forth. Having saved so much 

 strength and energy by the long rest, they are ready almost 

 at once, to take up the serious business of the moment, early 

 announced in 



The Courtship Chorus. 



Who has not heard the insistent, rhythmic beat of many 

 frog voices? Sometimes they sound like bagpipes, and again, 

 when near at hand, like jewsharps, vibrated under water. 

 Through the season many different notes will be detected 

 corresponding to the different species of frogs and toads. 



What is the Clamor all About? 



It is the call of the males to the females, and, in the psy- 

 chology of frogdom, is probably intended to rouse the females 

 to a sense of their duties. 



As the time for laying the eggs approaches, the male mounts 

 upon the back of the female that he may be at hand the 

 moment the eggs with their closely wrapped, gelatinous en- 



