V* I 





APPENDIX. 127 



Music IN NATURE. Contin. 



A record of " musical sounds like the prolonged notes on the harp," 

 proceeding from under water, is to be found in "Bombay Times," 

 Feb. 13, 1849. 



FROG. 



Wheelwright, H. W. (Ten Years in Sweden, London, 1865), men- 

 tions a little frog (Bombinator igneus) which has a love-tune like the 

 ringing of bells. 



" ' New Views in Natural History, leading up to the Perfectly Authentic 

 History of an Interesting but Unfortunate Frog/ is the queer title of a 

 pamphlet recently published in a French country town by a good abbe'. 

 It tells a simple and touching story of a melodious frog. The abbe 

 relates how he called one day upon a sick man, one of the poorest of 

 his parishioners, who, in honor of the priest's visit, threw into the fire- 

 place a few branches, which blazed up into a bright flame. 



"Presently there appeared, from under an old worm-eaten chest, which 

 was the sole article of furniture in the room, an enormous frog, which 

 hopped along toward the blaze. The frog seemed to be at home, and 

 so he was. He was the sick man's only friend. 



" The abbe regarded the animal with interest. Thereupon the peasant, 

 in order to repay the priest for his attention to his pet, gave an exhibition 

 of the frog's accomplishments. In a nasal voice, the peasant began sing- 

 ing one of the old French ballads that have come down from the time 

 of King Dagobert one of the simplest of songs, both in words and 

 music. ' What was my astonishment,' writes the abbe, ' to hear the frog, 

 after the man had sung one couplet of his song, take up the note upon 

 which the man had ended, and to utter his la, drop to^a, go up to la 

 again, and then down to mi, with a precision worthy of a choir-master. 

 And these notes, la, fa, la, mi, the frog repeated regularly and correctly, 

 in a tone guttural and sweet, after every couplet that the mau sang, like 

 a sort of chorus. The notes were plaintive and a little veiled, with a 

 touch of melancholy and regret, and sounded much like an old-fashioned 

 harmonica.' 



"The abbe' describes also the expressive pantomime that the frog went 

 through as he sang his notes. He looked tenderly toward his master, 

 with an expression as if he really desired to please, and felt also a wish 

 to have his performance appreciated. 



" This was, unfortunately, the only performance by the frog that the 

 abbe witnessed. The poor man died a few days afterward, and the 

 singing frog disappeared. No one knows what became of him." News- 

 paper clipping. 



