28 



FAMILIAR LIFE IN FIELD AND FOREST. 



]ong) — is the one whose familiar nasal " gum-m-m " 

 or " chun-n-ng " is heard in every pool and frog pond 

 from one end of the country to the other. He gen- 

 erally waits on the margin until we approach within 

 a yard of his retreat, and then slumps into the pool 

 with a short and derisive "g-m-m" in C, one octave 

 below middle C on the piano, thus : 



I'V-rJTJ rj 



Often the note will be as high as E ; 

 but in any event it is not a noisy voice which one 

 hears, and the Latin name seems entirely misapplied, 

 more particularly as these frogs do not congregate in 

 large and clamorous assemblies like Hyla jpickeringii 

 or Rana virescens virescens. On the contrary, Rana 

 clamata lives alone or with one or more companions. 

 "We will frequently see him seated on a lily pad or 

 on the shaded margin of tlie pond, where he occa- 

 sionally makes a gulping answer to a fellow frog over 

 on the other side. 



In form Rana clamata is rather stout, with a 

 head longer than it is broad, and very large ear 

 drums. The hind feet are strongly webbed, and the 

 skin of the back is more or less rough. In color the 

 frog is decidedly green, the upper parts quite bright 

 and the lower parts deepening to a dull olive hue. 

 Beneath, the coloring is dull white merging into yel- 

 low under the chin ; the hind legs are marked with 

 three or four transverse dark bands. 



