142 BIRD PARADISE 



but a Jamestown of wonders, its myriad doors 

 ever wide open to him who lingers there with 

 eyes to see and ears to hear ? 



I notice in my garden a great number of small 

 toads. The little fellows do not look large enough 

 to take care of themselves, but they seem to get 

 along very well. A few days ago they left their 

 home in the water and came out upon the land. 

 I have seen them making the venture in com- 

 panies of a hundred or more, all intent on finding 

 a location that they can regard as home. What 

 a curious instinct it is which leads them out of 

 the water home and establishes them in the snug- 

 gery on the land. Who would imagine that the 

 curious thing hatched in the water would ever 

 become a toad ? The name tadpole or poUywog 

 seems to represent the newcomer very nicely. 

 "Pretty much all head and tail" was what the 

 boy said when he first saw one of the fellows. 

 For weeks they swim about in the water, furnish- 

 iDg food for the fish and many water birds. When 

 the time arrives the great change occurs. The 

 tail disappears, the legs are put in place and a 

 new spirit takes possession of the fellow. He 

 hies away to a new world and in a sense drops 

 all the knowledge that his experience in the water 



