THE APRIL MOON. 



ID/ 



glimmering pools, which faded out at my ap- 

 proach, were they. The piercing shrillness of 

 their united songs was something wonderful. It 

 was not so much a chorus as the wildest orgies 

 of Lilliputian fifers. At times the song of this 

 same frog is the sharp clicking of a Castanet, 

 hence their their name in zoology, Acrts crept- 

 tans, but none were crepitating that night. Yes- 

 terday I waded into a wet meadow and crouched 

 upon a projecting hassock. Thousands of the 

 fifing frogs were about me, but I could see none. 

 I long sat there, hoping that my patience would 

 be rewarded in time, and so it was, At last one 

 came cautiously from its hiding-place in the sub- 

 merged grass, thrusting but its head above the 

 water's surface, and scanned closely its sur- 

 roundings. It eyed me most suspiciously, and 

 then slowly crawled out upon outreaching grass 

 until quite above the water. It seemed very long 

 before it was suited to its perch but when com- 

 fortably fixed, appeared to gulp in a great mouth- 

 ful of air ; in fact, must have done so, for imme- 

 diately an enormous globular sac formed beneath 

 its lower jaw. The sunlight being favorable, I 

 could see that the sac contained about two 

 drops of water. Then the fifing commenced. 

 The motion of the mouth was too slight to be 

 detected, but the membranous globe decreased 

 or increased with each utterance. At no time 



