The American Toad 



leave the pond^ — a whole army of atoms of life, so small and so 

 like the ground that if their numbers were few we should scarcely 

 see one of them, or if we did, might think the little hopping thing 

 merely a cricket. (Fig. 40.) But sometimes the day of their final 

 transformation coincides with the day of a gentle rain. A happy 

 coincidence it seems for them, but it is likely to prove rather 

 tragic instead. They cover the sidewalks and the roadways; 

 and before each individual of the migrating multitude finds a 

 sheltered corner he can call home, many hundreds have lost 

 their lives under the wheels of carriages and the feet of hurrying 

 pedestrians. The same apparent " deluge " of toads may come 

 if a warm rain occurs shortly after the time of their change to 

 land animals. They are so delicate at first, so used to life in the 

 water, that they travel only when the air is moist. This means 

 that they will leave their native pond at night, and that until 

 they are less sensitive must remain secreted during the daytime 

 under stones and chips, in the cracks of board-walks or under the 

 protecting cover of leaves and grasses. But let a rainfall come 

 before they are too widely scattered or their ranks too greatly 

 thinned, and — truly it seems as if the toads must have rained 

 down ! For the great warm drops splash down on the boards, and 

 see, there are baby toads just where the raindrops struck. 



The wet margin of river and pond in early July may be alive 

 with baby toads. When the toads have been out of water for a 

 few days they are found farther back in the grass. They congre- 

 gate in large numbers on sunny brown earth patches. These 

 they match so well in colour, that, as we approach, their simulta- 

 neous hopping into the shelter of the grass gives the illusion that 

 the whole patch of earth is moving. 



Those that have been out of the water for two or three weeks 

 differ greatly in general appearance from the tiny black things 

 with fragile legs that we see on the wet mud nearer the water. 

 They are one-half inch long, very fat-bodied and show spots of 

 bright red-brown. In six weeks they may measure one inch in 

 length and are correspondingly fat. They may be light orange- 

 brown in general colour with bright orange on the two large warts 

 behind the eyes and on the under sides of hands and feet. When 

 they are handled they play dead for seconds at a time and finally 



1 This happens generally between the middle of June and the middle of July, according to the 

 advancement of the season. For the enemies of the toad tadpoles in the pond, see " Leopard Frog," 

 pp. i8j, 1S2. ^ 



71 



