i68 



OTHER DENIZENS OF THE WOODS 



Tree-Frog. 



Most of the European amphibians belong to the tailless group, 

 of which the smallest representative found on the Continent is the 

 tree-froo- (Hyla arborea), which is a widely disseminated species, whose distribu- 

 tional area may roughly be taken as extending between latitude 28° and 58° N., 

 and thus including the whole of Europe, with the exception of the British Isles, 

 Norway, northern Sweden, and northern Russia. The species is, however, also 

 found in Madeira and the Canaries, as well as in northern Africa and central 

 Asia, China, and Japan. Its local valuations are somewhat numerous, one 

 of these races inhabiting Germany, Piedmont, and Tuscany, while a second occurs 



■mm r 





THE TREE-FROO. 



in northern Italy and Sicily, and presumably therefore the whole of Italy ; and 

 a third is met with in Elba, Corsica, Sardinia, Egypt, Asia Minor, Cyprus, Palestine, 

 Syria, Mesopotamia, northern Persia, and Hainan. A fourth has been found near 

 Coimbra in Portugal, a fifth near Charkow in south Russia and also near the 

 mouth of the Danube, and a sixth occurs in Japan. Within its habitat the 

 tree-frog is by no means met with everywhere, being absent from the higher 

 mountains, deserts, sandy steppes, and many other situations. In Germany 

 it is fairly general, and although avoiding the crests and bleak heights of the 

 mountains, is found in the Hartz and the Alps, ranging in the Tyrol as high as 

 5000 feet above sea-level. In the lowlands it avoids the wilder districts 



