48 FAMILIAR LIFE IN FIELD AND FOREST. 



But lie proved very uninteresting. He did not favor 

 me with, his mysterious song, which I had read so 

 much about, and he ate nothing that was set before 

 him. In fact, his existence proved to be a very mo- 

 notonous one from my point of view, so I gave him 

 his liberty. 



He came on a rainy day, and I let him go on an- 

 other. There is nothing like being consistent. It is 

 well not to forget that it occasionally rains frogs and 

 salamanders, according to the dictum of some simple- 

 minded people, and it is wisest to choose a wet day, 

 and thus not shake the faith of a believer ! But there 

 is a very strange thing connected with the little red 

 salamander, which is the more remarkable because 

 there seems to be but one record of it. I refer to the 

 vuice ascribed to the creature. It seems very doubtful 

 whether he has any voice.* Possibly I am the most 

 unreasonable of skeptics in this matter, but I have a 

 lingering idea that the salamander f which John 



* I have referred the matter to Professor Garman, of Cam- 

 bridge, and he is also very skeptical about the salamander's voice. 

 As Professor Garman is one of our leading authorities' on batrachi- 

 ans, and as he has never heard a salamander sing, 1 am inclined 

 to accept his opinion as final. 



f " For years I have been trying to ascertain for a certainty the 

 author of that fine plaintive peeping to be heard more or less fre- 

 quently, according to the weather, in our summer and autumn 

 woods. It is a note that much resembles that of our small marsh 

 frog in spring — the Uyla. It is not quite so clear and assured, 



