140 UPLAND AND MEADOW. 



joining fields, I am puzzled to know why I overlooked 

 them all. It was not for want of painstaking search 

 for them. 



I have already referred to the wonderful noises made 

 by these animals when they congregate in pools for the 

 purpose of spawning. At no other time do they ap- 

 pear to be vocal, and the question naturally arises, why, 

 when the animal leads a life that requires no such power 

 except for two or three days in a year, should its utter- 

 ances be far louder than any or all the frogs and toads 

 of the same locality combined ? Although the animal 

 is strictly crepuscular, and not diurnal, it could readily 

 find a mate guided by sight, and tlie purpose of the deaf- 

 ening epithalamium is somewhat hard to determine. If 

 it could be shown that they call to each other from far- 

 distant points, the difiiculty would disappear; but this 

 they are not known to do. Apparently it is not until 

 they are congregated in some available pool that they 

 sing, if singing it can be called. No words yet in use in 

 our language can fairly describe their utterances, which, 

 it may be presumed, are expressions of delight at meet- 

 ing. 



A word in conclusion with reference to the peculiar 

 spur-like process which gives the common name to this 

 batrachian. Holbrook describes it accurately as follows : 

 " On the internal margin of the metatarsus is a horny, 

 spade-like process, containing a bone, which moves by 

 an imperfect joint ; the breadth of this process is about 

 a line and a half, its length one line ; the cutting edge 

 is jet black." By viewing the foot from beneath, this 

 little spade can be readily seen. It will also be noticed 



