300 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 



of any child's sharp eyes to find. Its note is the musical 

 " Tur-r-r-r-t " so often heard on a summer evening. The eggs 

 are laid in May or June in small masses attached to stems of 

 weeds and grass in shallow pools. This is to me the most inter- 

 esting of frogs. It is easily domesticated, so that it may be 

 carried about on the finger from fly to fly. If kept in a viva- 

 rium and well fed, it is said to make an interesting barometer, 

 climbing to the top of its ladder in fair weather and descending 

 into the water before a storm. The distribution of these frogs is 

 one of the greatest puzzles I have encountered. I have repeatedly 

 brought them to the trees about the house, where attractive pools 

 are provided, but they never stay more than a day or two. Why 

 they are not more numerous is another question for which I have 

 found no satisfactory answer. 



Pickering's Tree Frog, H. pickeringii. Color above, yellowish 

 brown, with a dark X on its back, by which it may always be 

 recognized. These little "spring peepers" announce the very 

 first day of spring with their shrill, clear whistles, " Uh-e-e-t, 

 wh-e-e-t, wh-e-e-t," from the pools of ice water in the glades 

 and meadows. One may hear them all the years of his life but 

 never know whence the sound comes, unless he puts on his 

 rubber boots, takes a lantern to the pool, and picks them up 

 in the very act. 



Little Tree Frog, Chorophiltis triseriatus. Color, ashy gray, brown, 

 or fawn color, with three brown stripes down the back. Habitat, 

 small pools in the densest thickets. Note resembles the low 

 jingling of sleigh bells in the distance. Range is given as east- 

 ern United States, south of central New Jersey, and westward. 



CRICKET FROGS, ^(Trzj. Small; not arboreal. Genus one, species 



one ; with regional variations. 



Cricket Frog, A.gryllus. Color above, brown or gray, readily chang- 

 ing, a dark triangle between the eyes, the apex pointing back- 

 ward and continued down the middle line as a light stripe ; three 

 large oblique blotches on the sides ; a dark (or white) line from 

 eye across the eardrum. Its note may be imitated by striking 



