do now is to minute his cogitations, and I remem- 

 ber one evening when he sat thinking and wink- 

 ing a full hour without making a single hop. 



As the darkness comes down he makes off for 

 a night of bug-hunting. At the first peep of 

 dawn, bulging plump at the sides, he turns back 

 for home. Home to a toad usually means any 

 place that offers sleep and safety for the day ; 

 but if undisturbed, like the one under the step, 

 he will return to the same spot throughout the 

 summer. This chosen spot may be the door-step, 

 the cracks between the bricks of a well, or the 

 dense leaves of a strawberry -bed. 



In the spring of 1899 so very little rain fell 

 between March and June that I had to water 

 my cucumber-hills. There was scarcely a morn- 

 ing during this dry spell that I did not find sev- 

 eral toads tucked away for the day in these moist 

 hills. These individuals had no regular home, 

 like the one under the step, but hunted up the 

 coolest, shadiest places in the soft soil and made 

 new beds for themselves every morning. 



Their bed-making is very funny, but not 

 likely to meet the approval of the housewife. 

 Wearied with the night's hunting, a toad comes 

 [130] 



