236 



THE OPEN COUNTRY 



in Italy and the islands of the Levant, as it also is in Austria-Hungary ; in fact, it 

 is confined to western Europe. 



Throughout the whole year it may be found on sandy river banks and in 

 marshy meadows, and also in gardens and parks, tool-houses and cellars, and 

 even on dry heaths and mountain-slopes. It is by no means entirely confined to 

 the vicinity of water, as in the Alps it is met with as high as 4000 feet. In 

 September or October it retires to a deep hole in sand or mould, and sleeps there, 

 as a rule, till the middle of April, when it leaves its winter-quarters and takes to 

 the water, where the males make a noise resembling the croaking of the frog 

 until spawning-time. 



7. 





■ 



MALE MIDWIFE TOAD WITH THE EGGS. 



Midwife Toad. 



The curious midwife toad (Ah/frx ohxtrtvicn us) is also confined 

 to western Europe, but has a more restricted distributional area than 

 the natterjack, being found only in Germany, Belgium, France, Spain, and 

 Portugal ; while in Germany it has been met with beyond Hesse in the north 

 and Thuringia in the east. Far from being confined to the plains, this toad 

 in the Teutoberg Forest ranges up to a height of 1200 feet, in the Hartz 

 Mountains up to 1500 feet, and in the Alps as high as 5000 feet. This 

 species may live near the water, and never leaves its lurking-places in rainy 

 weather. It hides in stone-heaps, or rocky clefts, small cavities beneath the 

 roots of trees, and if a suitable hole is not to hand digs one itself, but 

 this happens very rarely, for these toads are not, as a rule, given to burrowing, 

 although they excavate their own winter-holes. In the dusk and at night they 

 hop about in leaps of a foot in length, which quickly succeed one another ; and 



