426 
Forest and stream 
[May io, ig63- 
water's edge. Here it can lie, concealed by its perfect pro- 
tective coloration, until some unwary insect comes close 
enough to be seized and eaten. Here, too, it is itself com- 
paratively safe from its arch enemies the snakes, and can 
escape from the small boy by jumping headlong into the 
ever ready water. When it dives it usually goes straight 
to the bottom, where by kicking about vigorously it can 
so roil up the mud as to hide it very effectually. Some- 
times, however, if there is vegetation in the pond, it will 
simply dart in among the leaves and stalks of the water 
plants and come to the surface some distance away and 
slyly watch proceedings from behind some fallen leaf or 
twig. Occasionally it tires of the monotonous sedentary 
life and travels away to considerable distances from the 
water, hopping about in the cool damp grass. When win- 
ter comes it retires to some quiet pool and in company 
with others of its kind buries itself in the mud to remain 
dormant until the advent of spring. It is,- however, not 
a good judge of time, and is liable to break the sleep at 
any warm day, come to the surface and croak away, only 
to be forced once more to retreat to the mud. Its song 
is quite variable and difficult to describe. Prof. Cope says 
that its voice may be imitated by the syllables chock, 
chock, chock; but at times it sounds like derisive laughter, 
and again a sort of low querulous tone. It is on hand 
again with spring, and at once proceeds to hunt up a 
mate. Eggs are laid verj^ earlj', in favorable years even 
as soon as the middle of March. They are laid in great 
masses consisting of the small eggs inclosed in a large 
quantity of jelly. The tadpoles escape in about forty-five 
days and are dark brown and about five-sixteenths of an 
inch long. They grow rapidly and in August or Septem- 
ber undergo their metamorphosis. The young frogs are 
about an inch long and seem to spend most of their time 
in the grass near the pond which they have left, but they 
scatter out, and such as survive find their winter quarters 
wherever they may happen to be when cold weather 
sets in. 
The largest of all our frogs is the bullfrog, Rana cales- 
biana, a species which is distributed over a territory 
almost as extensive as the one just described. It may be 
distinguished at once by its large size and by the fact that 
there are no dorso-lateral folds. The color may be pale 
yellow, green, brownish or even deep brown above, be- 
neath it is white or yellowislx Usually the back is more 
Fig. 3— The Tree Toad. 
or less blotched with brown- and sometimes the lower sur- 
faces are similarly marked. In length it may reach 
eighteen inches from the tip of the nose to the end of the 
outstretched legs. The bullfrog is notoriously an inhab- 
itant of the brooks, rivers, and lakes, being seldom found 
in small bodies of water. It probably never strays far 
from its home in search of food. Its note, which is well 
known to all who have approached its haunts, is a loud, 
hoarse bass "bi'wum" repeated several times and under 
favorable conditions can be heard at a distance of several 
miles. It is said that if the bullfrog is teased or whipped 
it will cry like a child. The food of this creature is of 
an extremely varied character, and on glancing at the lis;; 
of things which it is recorded to have eaten one is in- 
clined to think that it will swallow any living thing which 
can pass down its throat. In times of hunger it will evm 
eat a weaker individual of its own kind. A grass-snake 
three feet long was found in the stomach of a large bull- 
frog by Dr. Jos. Jones, of Georgia. The tadpoles of this 
frog attain a large size and require two years for their 
full development. 
The bullfrog is a common article of commerce in all the 
larger markets of this country, and so great a delicacy has 
it become that most serious inroads have been made on its 
numbers. The great demand has led to numerous efforts 
to start "frog farms," but, so far as the author is aware, 
they have not been crowned with any startling degree of 
success. The difficulty seems to lie in the fact that living 
food cannot be supplied in sufficient quantity to satisfy the 
frogs' voracious appetite. 
We now come to the group of tree frogs, almost all of 
which are species of small size, adapted by their peculiar 
toes for a life on the stems or leaves of plants. Many of 
the tree frogs, however, spend the greater portion of their 
time hopping about among the dead leaves in the woods, 
and some are seldom, if ever, found anywhere except 
among the pebbles along the margins of some pond or 
stream. 
A common example, illustrative of the latter kind, is the 
cricket frog, Acris gryllus, which is abundant everywhere 
in the East about fresh water. It is one of our smallest 
frogs and may be known by its small size, warty skin, 
and the peculiar triangular dusky spot between the eyes. 
Often there is considerable green in a border to the tri- 
angular patch just mentioned and in a stripe down the 
back. The sides, behind the fore legs, have a dusky stripe 
and another of the same kind from the eye to the shoul- 
der. The color, however, is variable, and in the same in- 
dividual may change rapidly. The abdomen is always 
white. It is a cheerful little creature and even on the 
hottest days of summer may be; heard executing its rat- 
tling song. It appears very early in the spring and 
lays its eggs at once. The tadpoles transform^ in August 
or September and shortly -after this they go into winter 
quarters. , . 
As an example of a tree frog which spends of its 
time in trees, our account would be incomplete without 
mention of the chameleon tree frog, Hyla versicolor, 
whose note is so well known as announcing an approach- 
ing rain. It is an animal which is far more often heard 
than seen, but if one will take the trouble to follow up 
the cry the songster can usually be found sticking on 
some branch or leaf or fence rail. It has the ability to 
change its color so as to resemble its surroundings, and 
( nc must look closely to find it. Usually the color is a 
light gray with dark mottlings, but the gray may give 
way to green of varying shades. The species may be 
recognized, however, by the clear yellow color which 
covers the groin and the thighs, as well as by its large 
size for a tree toad, and the short, squat, toad-like form. 
It spends the winter in the ground or in hollow trees, 
never, so far as is known, going into the mud, as do the 
true frogs. It emerges early in April or May, and at 
once begins its loud love song. The eggs are deposited 
singly or in small clusters attached to grasses growing in 
the water near the shore.. They have very little gelatinous 
niatter about them. The tadpoles emerge in two or thrc''. 
days, and by the end of July complete their metamor- 
I'hosis and climb at once into the neighboring trees and 
bushes. Their food is almost exclusively of insects. The 
tree frog is to some extend nocturnal in its habits, a fact 
which probably accounts for its evident enjoiTOcnt of the 
twilight hours and the few minutes of darkness which 
precede a storm. At such times, all through the summer, 
it gives its loud, clear, trilling note which tells us that 
although unseen these pretty woodland singers are always 
about us. W. P. Hay. 
Seaboard Air Line. — IX. 
Report to May 15, 1903, from Bay Ridge, wliicli fs ia Greater 
New York, on the Eastern Shore of New York Bay. 
There is a corner in the edge of a certain piece of 
woodland, where the rubbish of years, in the shape of 
broken branches, decaying stumps, and a general ac- 
cumulation of ritf-raff has-been cast, till, with the lapse 
of time it has formed a goodly mass — ^jungle, in a small 
way, one might call it. Saplings, and various wood- 
land growths, thrust their way through this dead rarn- 
age resting upon the damp mould that nourishes their 
life, to the freedom of the pure unfiltered air and sun- 
shine. ^ 
Briers and vines weave here and there, binding with 
curious interlacings the whole mass so securely that 
none but the most persevering investigation is ever 
likely to penetrate the secrets its holds. 
In this sheltered nook the spring starts very early. 
The first balmy airs from the southland that wander 
there, are more than likely to be welcomed by the 
rustle of the tender green drapery in which our little 
jungle has already clothed itself. 
Every trailing vine gives greeting from its quiver- 
ing tips; and the plumee of the saplings are bowing 
right and left with graceful movement. 
It is a choice retreat, largely patronized by the 
"elite" wood-folk. Indeed, so crowded does it often 
become with the arrival of transient feathered guests 
in spring and autumn that I have mentally dubbed it 
"The Migrants' Club." 
One is sure to find interesting material there at all 
times, and especially when the migration is passing. A 
few days since a yellow-breasted chat was perched in 
one of its cool corridors. I could not see him, so well 
had he screened himself from view, but his voice 
seemed so full of complaint that I paused to listen. 
"It is- all very well," he said, "this talk about soft 
green foliage waving about. . Sentimental stuff; I tell 
you it's too dry! too dry! too few bugs and beetles, 
Very few worms, and all of 'cm dried up. Its too dry! 
too dry! I'll move on." And be did, that very night. 
This has been the plaint of practically all our transients 
who used the "Air Line" this spring. They have not 
utilized their stop-over tickets to any extent. We 
have had no rush, but rather a steady increase of travel 
from the first week in April, till its culmination during 
the first week in May, since which time it has gradually 
diminished. 
The "redstart contingent" was very noticeable in 
point of numbers, as also were the "black-throated 
blue" warblers. Last spring the chewink, rose-breasted 
grosbeak and the vireos secured special mention in my 
report. This year, with the two exceptions above 
noted, the review was much as usual. It is certainly 
interesting and curious to note the varying numbers 
of certain migrants from year to year, and I have 
never been able to satisfy myself in regard thereto. 
It was a stirring sight in the afternoon of March 
23, when a gang of nearly 200 fine Canadas passed us 
on their way north. The bay was shrouded with low- 
lying fog, that covered the craft at anchor from their 
trucks down, so that one could locate them only by 
their topmasts. Overhead, where the geese swung 
along under the blue sky, all was clear, and their wild 
clangor rang musically over the fog-bank below. 
Travel is practically over for this season. The first 
broods of "robin and starling are already foraging on 
their own account, so I think we shall "close our 
books" and join our little residents in a prayer for 
rain, to refresh the dry earth and relieve the parched 
throats that show their discomfort by the widely 
opened beaks that we see on the lawn and in the 
trees, where our birds move restlessly in their discom- 
fort. WiLMOT TOWNSEND. 
The Eaglets Prey. 
While returning from meeting last Sabbath, and while 
driving through the pine forest between_ the village of 
Meyers Falls and our home, with my wife and two of 
our children in the hack, a large eagle crossed the road 
about a hundred yards in front of the team, flying some 
twenty feet above the ground, and bearing in its talons a 
porcupine. 
We were greatly astonished, and I want to ask the 
readers of Forest and Stream if any one else has ever 
seen this strange animal in the talons of an eagle? 
Orin Belknap. 
— ® — 
Pro^etors of shooting: resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
tbem in Forest ahd Stsxax. 
The Land of the Whoopers. 
Omaha, Neb., May 20. — The question whether tl 
Crow, Lone Tree and other small streams of the regio 
roundabout Cheyenne, Wyoming, are tributary to tl 
North OT the Soiith Platte River, and which was re- 
ferred to me for solution by a number of sportsmt 
out that way, is answered, so .far as the angler's intei- 
est goes, anyway, in the following letter from the At- 
torney-General of Wyoming: 
Cheyenne, Wjfo., May 13. — I am in receipt of your favor of 
April 29, requesting my opinion as to wliettier or not the South 
Platte Kiver is tributary to the North Platte. I presume that this 
question is stiggested by virtue of the provisions of Chapter 22 ot 
the Session Laws of Wyoming of 1903, which provides a special 
open season for fishing from the Big Horn and North Platte 
Kivers and their tributaries. This law would apply only to the 
tributaries of the North Plalte River or Big Horn l^iver in 
VVyoming, and would not extend beyond the boundaries of 
Wyoming. As the South Platte River does not touch Wyoming, 
the question as to whether or not it is a tributary of the North 
Platte wovtld have no bearing on the interpretation of this statute. 
Very respectfully, J. A, Van Orsdel, Att'y-Gcncral. 
The reason for desiring this matter established is 
that the Wyoming laws prohibit fishing in all streams 
of the State before June i, with the exception of the 
tributaries of the Big Horn and North Platte rivers. 
While duck shooting this spring out in the Cherry 
County sandhills, we saw a flock of eleven whooping 
cranes, and the sight awakened the most pleasant mem- 
ories of my early days in Nebraska, back in 1886-7-8-9, 
when this now almost extinct bird flourished plentifully 
here. It was on Sunday, March 29, when we saw these 
birds, while Gerard and I were on our way from the 
ranch to Pelican Lake, and our attention was first 
called to them by the trumpet call of the leader when 
they w^ere Ijigh up in the air. The expectation of see- 
ing a whooping crane being, remote; indeed, I re- 
marked to the kid that they were swan, whose hoarse, 
but sonorous and musical "hoo-roo-ooo-ooo-oo!" if 
much like that of this big white, crimson-crested crane, 
but as they wound down and settled on a sandy point 
of "the island," and that far-reaching clarion call again 
came quavering over the barrens, their identity flashed 
through my mind at once. 
Lolling down in the warm sand Gerard and I watched 
them for fully an hour. It was a fine opportunityj to 
study the great bird, though at a long distance, and c 
improved it fully; in fact, until they finally rose witn a 
chorus of hoarse cries and circled up into the upper 
sunlight and then off and out of sight over the distant 
Red Deer Lake. 
For the benefit of our modern hunters, whose chances 
for becoming familiar with this grandest of all the game 
birds that ever chose Nebraska's lonely wilds for a feed 
and resting place, lies in the pages of history, I will 
say that the sandhill crane, with all his beauty and 
wariness, alongside the whooper, is an inconspicuous 
fowl. Larger than the biggest of the sandhills by 
fully ten or eleven inches in extent of wing, and from 
a foot and a half in length, of whiteness that vies with 
the purest snow, save the dab of velvet black on the 
tip of the pinions, and carmine streak over the crown 
of his head, he is the most impressive feathered biped 
known in this section since the fabled wonders of the 
prehistoric days. When cleaving the golden sunlight 
of early spring over the blue lakes, reedy marshes, 
sandy barrens, pasture lands and choppy hills of Cherry 
County, he is a sight to tingle the blood of the most 
stoical, and incredible as it may seem to the young 
sportsman of to-day, there is no mistake about it. 
Twenty years ago Nebraska was one of the most fav- 
ored feeding and resting grounds for the whooping 
crane there were in the whole countrj^ 
Just a short way northeast of Rogers, out on the 
Platte, lies a quite extensive half open valley and half 
billow}'' prairie, which was formerly thickly covered 
with the delicate and curly buffalo grass, with clumps 
of hybrid acacia, and splashes of moccasin flowers 
mingling with cat-o-nine-tails, flags and tules as you ap- 
proach the river. This stretch of country was a great 
stamping and picking grounds of not only sandhill 
cranes, but the big whoopers, who never like to asso- 
ciate with the former or any of the lesser breeds, but 
in this instance their fondness for the place overcame 
their prejudice, and they w^re often found there to- 
gether. Thej'- were always to be seen here through 
the dreamy month of October and well into the gloom 
of November, but as soon as the air became bitey it 
would start them all oft" for their winter homes in the 
balmy South. The whooping cranes are, without an 
exception, the wariest, most cunning and resourceful 
of all our big game birds and about the hardest to get 
a shot at. And yet, by our superior intelligence, we 
used to outwit them frequently in the old days out about 
Rogers, and in another letter later, I will tell you of 
the last shot I got at one, way out in the sterile fast- 
nesses of Duel county, in March, 1894. What goose 
shooting is now, whooping and sandhill crane shoot- 
ing was to the few gunners who w^ent out from this 
city in the days of which I write. My! how it used to 
make my blood bound to lie there in a blind in the 
low hopples or tall, yellowy grass and listen to that 
penetrating and weird hoo-roo-ooo-oo-oo, lonp- drawn 
out and rolling, seemingly, from every; point in the 
autumnal skies, as a flock of these great birds ap- 
proached me. If you find it hard to lie still now and 
await the incoming of a line "auh-unking" Canadas, 
you would have found it an insurmountable task to have 
done the same twenty years ago for the onrush of a 
ragged bunch of whoopers. To bat an eye meant the 
dashing of your hopes. Rigid and still as a statue you 
had to lie or crouch, until the low whiff-whiff-whiff of 
their fan-like wings fractured the atmosphere above 
you, until you could see the carmine of the eye and the 
long raucous throats stretched out over you. Then 
to your feet, and what a sound and what a sight — ^what 
a climax of frenzy, as you view the tangle of monstrous 
