WILD CREATURES OF GARDEN AND HEDGEROW 



present in the air and not by that which is 

 to come. The frog's skin is smooth and slimy, 

 unlike that of the toad which is dry and covered 

 with little warty lumps. Many people say that 

 a toad is an ugly thing, but if you look at one 

 carefully you will see it has at any rate one 

 beauty, and that is its gleaming jewel-like 

 eyes. They are a pale metallic brown with 

 reddish lights like flickering fires in their 

 depths. No wonder that in olden days silly 

 persons said that precious gems could be found 

 in the head of the toad ; there was some excuse 

 for the idle story. Another pecuUarity of a 

 toad's eyes lies in the irises, or as we more 

 generally call them the ' pupils.' These are 

 not round like ours, but are narrow and slit- 

 like, and instead of being upright slits, such as 

 we see in the eye of the cat, they are horizontal 

 ones. On either side of the head, just behind 

 its eyes, the toad has a biggish lump, marked 

 on the lower side by a line of deep brown-black. 

 These warts are really a pair of glands, from 

 which when badly frightened it can eject a 

 fluid which causes a burning sensation on tender 

 skin such as that of the mouth, and which 

 makes the owner a very unpleasant morsel 

 for dogs, cats, or owls. This is one of the 



