■e>^ 



The Northern Wood Frog 



colour, to a brown that is almost black. The female is 

 usually much lighter than the male. The Wood Frogs may 

 be either conspicuously 

 spotted and the legs con- 

 spicuously barred, or they 

 may show perfectly even 

 colour without trace of 

 spots or bars. Indeed, 

 conspicuously spotted and 

 barred frogs may lose all 

 trace of the markings with- 

 in the space of half an hour. 

 The change from light 

 brown to dark, or the re- 

 verse, may take place in 

 fifteen minutes only. (See 

 Colour Plate XIV.) 



The Wood Frog is 

 beautiful at all times It 

 has a high-bred and delicate J^^^^^f^t *~'' ""' '^ ' 

 air. It is to the ground 



what the chickadee is to the trees — a gentle spirit of the 

 woods. Its appearance and ways are always in harmony with 

 the subdued light, the quiet, and the delicate mosses and frail 

 ferns that live in the shade of great trees. 



THE NORTHERN WOOD FROG 



Rana cantabrigiensis Baird 



Identification Characteristics 

 Colour: Dark brown to yellowish grey. A dark line from 

 the end of the muzzle extends backward on each side along the 

 canthus rostralis through the eye, to form a large patch of colour 

 in the region of the ear. A light line along the jaw from the 

 end of the muzzle to the shoulder. There may be a light dorsal 

 streak from near the end of the muzzle to the posterior part of 

 the body. Lateral folds light-coloured, and bordered below by 

 irregular line of black. Legs barred or spotted with dark. 



211 



