THE CANADIAN SPORTSMAN A.M. NAtfURALISl 



us 



head between the eves, hides golden hazel. 

 External surface of legs and arnin spotted or 

 landed or irregularly striped. Abdomen 

 yellowish while. A dark strip from the 

 nostrils pusses through the eye, over shoulders 

 and halfway down (he side.' Throat more or 

 less brown, generally wrinkled under the 

 tongue and fauces. ' Tongue bifid behind. 

 Beneath the tongue there is a small openi 

 each side, and these unite at the entrance into 

 the sublingual sack. When making its 

 crepitant croak, this sack is distended in the 

 shape (it a small orange, and rapidly emptied, 

 forcing the wind over the edges against the 

 palate and through the nostrils. By this 

 means the peculiar noise is* produced. This 

 species breeds early, depositing its spawn in 

 water, very soon after the ice disappears. J 

 have heard its notes at one end of a small pun! 

 when the other end was glazed over with ice, 

 and when the temperature of the water was 

 33° Fahrenheit. It is a difficiflt mailer to dis- 

 cover this little frog when it sounds its note 

 and il man approaches, no matter how careful, 

 the least motion causes it to be still. It. pro- 

 trudes half of its head over the surface ol the 

 water, and in calm sunshiny days, a gentle 

 thrill of wavelets may be noticed around its 

 tiny head. But the moment that it sees any- 

 thing in motion approaching or passing, its 

 sack suddenly collapses, the tiny head sinks, 

 and Mr. Frog goes noiselessly to the bottom, 

 without leaving the slightest ruffle on the 

 surface of the water. It drops down among 

 the mud and decayed herbage without any 

 effort to bury its tody. Its imitative powers 

 are so great that the' spot in which it hides 

 itself cannot be seen; the colour of its body 

 being almost like the mud, &c, and spots 

 or stripings hae a tendency to make il 

 more obscure. Regarding its 'note (which is 

 powerful in proportion to its size) it may 

 be heard on a calm spring evening, at a 

 distance of a mile. Its weight is about thirty 

 grains or half a drachm, therefore an ordinary 

 sized man of 155 lbs. weight is 32,720 limes 

 larger than this little vocalist. Now suppose 

 a man gifted with the same proportional vocal 

 power, stood anywhere on the equator, raising 

 his voice aloud, the sound would go round the 

 whole world, and lap over its point ol starting 

 8,720 miles. This illustrates an amazing 

 power of producing sound, and if is well that 

 our atmosphere resists and modifies sound in 

 accordance with natural laws, otherwise (lie 

 surface of the world would become a continual 



din. There i- anotln r fi 

 observed in reference to tl 

 that is, it- power .4 ,, ...',. . , 

 11 produced by ventriloquisri 

 quentlj utood motion les* neai the 

 pool or -uamp, hidden perha| 

 an upturned tree, listening to b 

 vocalist* in rullchoru 

 to drown the sound ol itc neigl 

 although I looked with ■_■■• 

 see one individual. I have i 

 with my eve for Bome particu 



ij vision permitted, and the Round n 

 berated in my ear-, as il the auima 

 or fifteen yards away, while in fa 

 actually at my feet. <»,„• nan,, d i 

 end ol April, 1880, I was collectii 

 hanks of a large pool iii the bu-h. Sud«i< 



I heard a nir.de //,//,, /',>/... 



yards away, and as I was anxiou 

 exchanges, I went cautiously to the upot. A- 

 I arrived, the same tone of note resounded 

 from the very spot I had left. I; 

 again, it sounded from an opposite quai 



and, thither I followed the sound a- it in 



mockery, in the very spot I had just left. I 

 proceeded with more caution than before, and 

 after a short time, the sound proceeded fr a 



limb some distance above me. I happened to 

 cast my eye on a ilv that rested on a 

 about lour feci from me. thus by mere accident 

 I discovered a Hyla perched on' a .had branch. 

 I stood moonless, intently watching it ami 

 presently I saw its little pouch distend, and 

 the notes follows, hut I could not tell from 

 what quarter, had not m\ eye detected the 

 musician; my ears led me astray, indi 

 they failed to assist me to the true local iti 

 from which the sound proceeded. Th 



ol reverberation or ventriloquism, call it what 

 we may, is possessed b\ no other -| 

 the same extent. Il is comparatively easj t.. 

 trace any other frog h\ it- DOtee. I -aw the 

 spawn this season on the Ith of April, but this 

 year has been exceptionally early. This I 

 seeks its food on herbage, but seldom clil 

 to> a great distonce from the earth. On open- 

 ing the Stomachs o\' several. I have found 

 Aphide-, small beetles ami other insect*, and 

 on one occasion, a small earth-worm. J 

 frog 18 seldom seen in daytime; it is inon 

 a night feeder. In the nestii the 



note differs little from that ol any oilier period, 

 and the name given to this sound, is i 



admirably expressed in French bj chant 

 amour. The following meaeuremi i 



