868 A JOURNEY TO THE 



Frogs, Grubs y and other Insects. 



^■■<^s- Frogs ^ of various colours are numerous in those parts as 



far North as the latitude 6i°. They always frequent the 

 margins of lakes, ponds, rivers, and swamps : and as the 

 Winter approaches, they burrow under the moss, at a con- 

 siderable distance from the water, where they remain in a 

 frozen state till the Spring. I have frequently seen them dug 

 up with the moss, (when pitching tents in Winter,) frozen as 

 hard as ice ; in which state the legs are as easily broken oiF 

 as a pipe-stem, without giving the least sensation to the 

 animal ; but by wrapping them up in warm skins, and ex- 

 posing them to a slow fire, they soon recover life, and the 

 mutilated animal gains its usual activity ; but if they are 

 permitted to freeze again, they are past all recovery, and are 

 never more known to come to life. The same may be said 



Spiders and of the various species of [398] Spiders, and all the Grub kind, 

 which are very numerous in those parts. I have seen thousands 

 of them dug up with the moss, when we were pitching our 

 tents in the Winter ; all of which were invariably enclosed in 

 a thick web, which Nature teaches them to spin on those occa- 

 sions ; yet they were apparently all frozen as hard as ice. 

 The Spiders, if let fall from any height on a hard substance, 

 would rebound like a grey pea ; and all the Grub kind are so 

 hard frozen as to be as easily broken as a piece of ice of the 

 same size ; yet when exposed to a slow heat, even in the depth 

 of Winter, they will soon come to life, and in a short time 

 recover their usual motions. 



Grubs. 



Birds. 



The feathered creation that resort to those parts in the 

 different seasons are numerous, but such as brave the severe 



\} The common frog of the Hudson Bay region is the northern wood frog, 

 Rana cantabrigensis latiremis Cope, which is abundant north to the tree-Umit. 

 A smaller species, Chorophilus septc7itrionaHs Boulenger, is abundant on the 

 coast as far north at least as York Factory.] 



