6 FAiMILIAE, LIFE IN FIELD AND FOREST. 



breeding season is over, about the first of July,* he 

 may still be found — but rarely — among the damp, 

 fallen leaves of the woods, or even in cellars. How 

 the creatures manage to keep themselves so com- 

 pletely out of sight in spring and summer is always 

 a mystery. It is not until the latter part of August 

 that they ascend the trees, and only once in a long 

 while have I heard the plaintive but unmistakably 

 clear whistle of one in the woods toward the close of 

 September. Prof. E. D. Cope speaks of the autum- 

 nal voice of this frog thus : " When the wind is cast- 

 ing the first frosted leaves to the ground, a whistle, 

 weaker than the spring cry, is heard repeated at in- 

 tervals during the day, from one part of the forest 

 to another, bearing considerable resemblance to the 

 note of the purple finch {Carpodacus purpureus) 

 uttered while it is flying." 



The geographical distribution of Pickering's Syla 

 is extensive. He is found from east of the Central 

 Plains to the Atlantic, and from Canada to Florida 

 and Texas. 



The form of this Hyla approaches that of a 

 more southern geims called Chorophil us, one species 



* It is a remarkable fact that this Hyla is apt to choose tempo- 

 rary pieces of water in the hollows of the meadow for its breeding 

 places, because, as the season ad\ances and the water evaporates, 

 whole colonies of its tadpoles dry up and miserably perish in the 

 hot sun. 



