34 LEAVES FROM AN APRIL JOURNAL. 



song, and the bull frogs are cliuckling for the first 

 time, as though they were congratulating each 

 other, in true batrachian language, on their fine 

 condition after the long winter's imprisonment in 

 mud ; or had found a prize in the water. Some 

 of the huge fellows have actually hopped on the 

 banks to sun themselves and tempt the epicures ; 

 and as I come upon them suddenly they express 

 their alarm by uttering sharply a short squeak or 

 yip, followed instantly by a heavy plunge into the 

 water. They are more strictly aquatic than the 

 other species, never appearing at a great distance 

 from their native pond or stream. Three weeks 

 from now these waters will be full of corpulent, 

 squirming tadpoles, hiding themselves in the mud, 

 where daily miracles wiU be performed; the chang- 

 ing of the gill-breathing fish into the highest form 

 of air-breathing amphibians. In the evening's still- 

 ness is heard the musical cheap, cheap, of the 

 pickerel frogs the most pleasing note of batrachian 

 musicians. The water chimes and tinldes with their 

 chanting, as if hundreds of tiny silver bells were 

 ringing here and there over its surface. The power 

 in the toads and frogs to produce such sounds is 

 extraordinary, for, unlike many of the vertebrates, 

 the larynx is in a rudimentary state. The males 



