THE STORY OF THE FROG 65 



when the birds sing, and mate, and nest, and feed, 

 and fly; what they live upon; of the materials 

 with which they construct their nests, and from 

 where they obtain them; why they inhabit a 

 certain environment; and examples might be 

 multiplied almost indefinitely. 



The Story of the Frog. — Let us, for a moment, 

 consider a common animal such as the Frog. 

 Bring a specimen into the home, or into the school, 

 or class-room. Our curiosity is at once aroused, 

 or, at least, should be. We are interested in the 

 specimen of the amphibian before us, but how 

 few can appreciate to the full its life and its sur- 

 roundings. We know, for example, that it was 

 once a tiny black speck in a mass of jelly-like 

 substance, that it eventually developed into a 

 sturdy little tadpole, and later into the perfect 

 Frog. But, surely, we cannot realise what it 

 truly is, unless we can picture its home near the 

 sunlit pond, with the whisper of the breezes among 

 the reeds, the crooing of a Moorhen, the scolding 

 note of a Sedge Warbler, and the hum of the 

 insects as they skim across the water. There, too, 

 are the weeping Willow and the sturdier Alders, 

 among whose branches the birds build their nests, 

 and in whose welcome shade the Marsh Marigold 

 raises its golden head. To those who know the 

 Frog properly, he is one of many animals who go 



