EARLY WILD FLOWERS, CATKINS. 19 



beside which mine is as " sounding brass or a tinkling 

 cymbal " ! 



Pickering's hyla leaves the swamp in ea:rly July 

 and is a " tree toad " in autumn ; then his shrill but 

 less vivacious note is often mistaken for that of a 

 bird. He is a great climber ; each of his toes is fur- 

 nished with a little circular pad by the aid of which he 

 can hold fast to a slippery surface. Dr. Abbott gives 

 a surprising account of the climbing powers of these 

 tree toads ; I quote what he says : " They are seldom 

 content with a humble perch, and, when in summer 

 they quit their aquatic and mud life for an arboreal 

 one, they often wander to the very highest available 

 resting places in the trees. I once found one at the 

 very top of a tulip tree, at least sixty feet from the 

 ground." My drawing of Pickering's frog is accom- 

 panied by a sketch of a pool near the road which 

 crosses the Plymouth meadows (Plymouth, N". H.). 

 In April, about five in the afternoon of a warm day, 

 this charming bit of meadow road is " set to music " 

 with the voices of a thousand Pickering's frogs ! 



There is still another slender, long-legged swamp 

 singer, called the Savannah cricket [Acris gryllus), 

 who has a modified, rattling whistle. The Savannah 

 cricket is about an inch long and green on the back, 

 with a triangular mark on the head, and on the sides 

 black edged with cream-color. These colors some- 



