98 THE BATRACHIA OF KALM'S 



other. They croak all together ; then stop a little, and be- 

 gin again. It seems as if they had a captain among them : 

 for when he begins to croak, all the others follow ; and 

 when he stops, the others are all silent. When this cap- 

 tain gives the signal for stopping, you hear a note like 

 poop coming from him. In day-time they seldom make 

 any great noise, unless the sky is covered. But the night 

 is their croaking time ; and, when all is calm, you may 

 hear them, though you are near a mile and a half off. 

 When they croak, they commonly are near the surface of 

 the water, under the bushes, and have their heads out of 

 the water. Therefore, by going slowly, one may get close 

 up to them before they go away. As soon as they are 

 quite under water, they think themselves safe, though the 

 water be very shallow. 



Sometimes they sit at a good distance from the pond ; 

 but as soon as they suspect any danger, they hasten with 

 great leaps into the water. They are very expert at hop- 

 ping. A full-grown Bullfrog takes near three yards at 

 one hop. I have often been told the following story by 

 the old Swedes, which happened here, at the time when the 

 Indians lived with the Swedes. It is well known, that the 

 Indians are excellent runners ; I have seen them, at Gov- 

 ernor Johnson's, equal the best horse in its swiftest course, 

 and almost pass by it. Therefore, in order to try how well 

 the bull-frogs could leap, some of the /Swedes laid a wager 

 with a young Indian, that he could not overtake the frog, 

 provided it had two leaps before hand. They carried a 

 bull-frog, which they had caught in a pond, upon a field, 

 and burnt his back-side ; the fire, and the Indian, who en- 

 deavored to be closely up with the frog, had such an effect 

 upon the animal, that it made its long hops across the field, 

 as fast as it could. The Indian began to pursue the frog 

 with all his might at the proper time : the noise he made 



