The Cricket Prog 



too minute. (Fig. 184.) The Cricket Frog remains on the ground 

 throughout the year, preferably along the muddy margins of 

 pools and rivers. It is diurnal in habit. If it is disturbed when 

 near the water, it gives one or more of its remarkable leaps, swims 

 vigorously a few strokes, — using to good purpose the large webs 

 between its toes, — and is immediately buried at the bottom of 

 the pond. Very soon, however, it is in activity again, leaping 

 from one water-lily pad to another in search of insects. 



Cricket Frogs may attain a size of an inch or more, but most 

 of those we see are very small — three-fourths of an inch long, or 

 even less. Specimens from Texas are usually considerably larger 

 than specimens from Florida and the Eastern States. The small 

 size and active habits of these frogs would seem to be the reasons 

 why they have been named the Cricket Frog. However, the name 

 is said not to refer to these characteristics, but to their song 

 which bears a strong resemblance to the chirping of a black cricket. 

 These tiny frogs sing in chorus in spring, and the isolated call may 

 be heard during the summer. The sound resembles the rattling 

 call of the Swamp Tree Frog but the notes are more rapidly given 

 and are sharper in quality. The sound can be imitated by striking 

 together two pebbles or two marbles, beginning slowly and con- 

 tinuing more rapidly for thirty or forty strokes. The series of 

 notes is sometimes broken into groups of three notes each. The 

 imitation may be so good that the frogs will answer as will the 

 Pickering's Hyla when its call is whistled. The Cricket Frogs 

 sing constantly in captivity; they become especially enthusiastic 

 when they are sprinkled with water. The call has not great 

 carrying power, either when given alone or when given in chorus. 



The male Cricket Frog does the singing. The yellow throat 

 is inflated enormously. Cricket Frogs are easily discovered 

 while they are singing, because they do not, like Pickering's Hyla 

 hide under moss and grasses, but swell their throats while they are 

 in full view on some water-plant or floating twig. 



This minute frog offers a marked difference from the ordinary 

 frog form, in that the part of the head anterior to the eyes is 

 unusually prolonged. Outside of this, the most striking peculiarity 

 of the frog is its rough skin. The back usually has elongated 

 wart-like elevations, which are large, relative to the small size of 

 the frog. 



The range of variation in colour is great, and the changes are 



155 



