104 



Aquatic JLitt 



trusting to luck, plunging his hand into 

 the water and tearing up a handful of 

 debris and mud. After carefully poking 

 this apart, often a little dark brown frog 

 would be found in its midst, yellow un- 

 dersides uppermost, arms and legs tucked 

 close to his body. Slowly the little mu- 

 sician turned right side up, sitting among 

 grass roots, moss, dead leaves, sticks and 

 mud, too chilled to take advantage of the 

 opportunity to escape. His bright golden 

 eyes seemed to blink in wonder at this 



Hyla Pickeringii 



Photograph from life by D. Franklin 



sudden disturbance. By the time he has 

 made up his mind to jump, he has been 

 transferred to the collecting jar, in future 

 to mystify with his song the visitors to 

 the Reptile House in the Bronx Zoo, 

 New York. 



All Peepers captured in the early 

 spring are dark brown, almost black, in 

 color above. Most of the specimens are 

 males, who far outnumber the females. 

 The male has a dark brown or deep yel- 

 low throat, which can be distended into 

 a round vocal sac of one-half the size of 

 the Peeper himself, which explains the 

 carrying power of his song. This is tre- 

 mendous for so small a creature, and on 

 still nights one can hear the Peepers 

 from ponds half a mile and more dis- 

 tant. 



The female's throat is white or pale 

 cream color, often spotted with tiny 

 brown specks. 



After being in captivity for a few days 

 the Peeper's dress assumes paler hues, 

 some turning yellowish, others reddish 

 brown. In this dress the dark cross on 

 the back and bars on the limbs show up 

 prominently. Although the Peepers be- 

 gin their singing in February, they are 

 often interrupted by cold spells, some- 

 times lasting for weeks. The eggs are 

 therefore seldom laid before the first 

 week in April. They are deposited singly, 

 dropping to the bottom of the pond 

 among the fine grass and debris. 



Between 600 and icoo eggs are depos- 

 ited by one female. The eggs are hatched 

 in from four to fifteen days, depending 

 upon the temperature of the water. The 

 tadpole takes from 90 to 100 days to 

 turn into a baby Peeper. The freshly 

 metamorphosed Peeper is large when the 

 size of the adult is considered. Peepers 

 leave the water before the last vestige 

 of the tail is absorbed, and these curious 

 little tailed froglets can often be seen in 

 midsummer, climbing around on the cat- 

 tails and weeds adjacent to the pond 

 where they spend their infancy. This 

 shows that already their hunt for small 

 spiders, flies, gnats, plant lice and mos- 

 quitoes has begun. The adults are sel- 

 dom seen during the hot summer months, 

 silently hunting among weeds, bushes and 

 tree tops. 



Beginning about the last week in Au- 

 gust, and continuing throughout autumn, 

 their calls will again be heard in mead- 

 ows and woodlands. They will now be 

 found on golden rod, purple aster, 

 marshmallow and other flowering weeds, 

 also on low bushes. During early No- 

 vember I have captured many among 

 dead leaves on rising ground near a 

 dried-out pond. They were no doubt 



Concluded on Page 107 



