carries this toad-form simply by a thin web be- 

 tween the toes, or by tiny disks at their tips. 

 And mixing her greens and browns with just a 

 dash of yellow, she paints them all so skilfully 

 that, upon a lily-pad, beside a lump of clay, or 

 against the lichened limb of an old apple-tree, 

 each sits as securely as Perseus in the charmed 

 helmet that made him invisible. 



The frogs have innumerable enemies among 

 the water-birds, the fish, the snakes, and such 

 animals as the fisher, coon, possum, and mink. 

 The toads fortunately are supplied with glands 

 behind their heads whose secretion is hateful to 

 most of their foes, though it seems to be no 

 offense whatever to the snakes. A toad's only 

 chance, when a snake is after him, lies in hiding. 

 I once saw a race between a toad and an adder 

 snake, however, in which the hopper won. 



One bright May morning I was listening to the 

 music of the church bells, as it floated out from 

 the city and called softly over the fields, when 

 my reverie was interrupted by a sharp squeak 

 and a thud beside the log on which I sat ; some- 

 thing dashed over my foot ; and I turned to 

 catch sight of a toad bouncing past the log, mak- 

 [311 J 



