128 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology. 



ing way. The male was singing loudly and the female was sitting near 

 by, watching him from a distance of one to six inches. 



The "whistling frog" is nocturnal in habit. I have heard its call 

 as early as half past five in the evening and as late as seven o'clock 

 on a wet morning, but never a sound through the heat of the day, 

 the day time being spent in hiding, usually under stones or in stone 

 walls or rubbish. 



The exception to this rule is seen in the following note by Dr. 

 Crozier : 



""On October 31st, 1916, I noticed that the ' whistling frogs ' were 

 singing loudly at 1 P. M. It had begun to rain rather heavily, and 

 the sky was much overcast. During the next succeeding three days, 

 the rain continuing all the while, the tree frogs kept up a steady chorus 

 throughout the whole of each afternoon. They did not sing in the 

 morning (9-12 A. M.), but it is quite clear that under proper condi- 

 tions of moisture and absence of strong light, the singing of these 

 frogs is not restricted to the night hours. It may be significant that 

 this time of year appears to be that of egg deposition." 



Females are rarely seen at night. It is the ma^es alone that sing 

 and thus make themselves conspicuous. I have caught several by 

 turning over stones in the quarry, where they were abundant at night. 

 But even in the day time the males seemed about twice as common as 

 the females. 



The food is interesting as showing what economic value is to be 

 attached to this ubiquitous noise-maker. An examination of fifty- 

 eight stomachs showed that the " whistling frog" is not at all particular 

 \vhat it eats. Almost anything alive that is not too large to swallow 

 appears to be satisfactory. A partial list of the material found in the 

 fifty-eight stomachs follows: 



i 



On the whole the list is decidedly favorable for the case of the frog, 

 and we must conclude that it is not the unmitigated nuisance that 

 Bermuda people consider it. 



