168 ANIMAL LIFE OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



was overfed, and we remarked that you cannot overfeed a 

 Toad. Our friend was sceptical, and undertook to provide 

 more food than she could eat. There followed a hunt for the 

 fattest caterpillars and the longest worms, and the Toad 

 accepted them as readily as though she were breaking a fast. 

 The caterpillar hunter grew tired of the business whilst the Toad 

 was still quite fresh, and he admitted that with so elastic an 

 integument there was no knowing what was the limit of a 

 Toad's feeding capacity. 



The Toad has the homing faculty well developed. By the 

 judicious wriggling of his hind-quarters he scoops out a hollow 

 in the soil, preferably under a root or stone, so that he can lie 

 without being conspicuous.- In the evening he sets out hunting, 

 and may travel some distance ; but before morning he is back 

 snugly in his form, where he may be found during the day for 

 many months. A similar sense of locality "orientation" the 

 naturalists call it is manifested in the choice of ponds for 

 breeding. Any chance pool, however temporary in character, 

 will serve the Frog, but the Toad is more particular and has 

 special requirements for a nursery. Any one who has observed 

 our batrachians during a series of years must have noticed that 

 scores of Toads may be seen in early spring, all converging 

 upon a particular pond, perhaps passing some other piece of 

 water that looks quite suitable for their purpose. In a garden 

 where we kept a portion wild as cover for many of the smaller 

 animals, we had a considerable number of Frogs and Toads 

 that had come there voluntarily. A small pond was freely 

 visited by them, together with Newts, an occasional snake and 

 stray aquatic birds. The Frogs and Newts bred there every 

 year ; the Toads never. In a field two or three hundred yards 

 beyond our boundary was a large deep pond that had formerly 

 been a brickmaker's pit, but the suitable earth being exhausted 

 it had been allowed to fill with water. To this pond Toads 

 came in the spring from all quarters. On a mild moist evening 



