THE TOAD. 
233 
slept, as it came thence at its first appearance. It was seldom 
provoked. IS either that toad, nor the multitudes I have 
.een tormented with great cruelty, ever shewed the least de- 
sire of revenge, by spitting or emitting any juice from their 
pimples. Sometimes, upon taking it up, it would let out a 
gieat quantity of clear water, which, as I have often seen it 
to do the same upon the steps when quite quiet, was cer- 
tain y its urine, and no more than a natural evacuation 
Spiders, millepedes, and flesh maggots, seem to be this ani- 
mal s favourite food. I imagine if a bee were to be put 
before a toad, it would certainly eat it to its cost*- but as 
bees are seldom stirring at the same time that toads are 
m y rLim y o,°h e f- ,n theil ' = * S dley d ‘> ™ appear after’ 
sun-rising, o. before sun-set. In the heat of the day they 
will come to the mouth of their hole, I believe, for air. I 
once, from my parlour window, observed a large toad I had 
1 th ? ba " k of a bowling-green, about twelve at noon, a 
very hot day, very busy and active upon the grass. So un- 
common an appearance made me go out to see what it was- 
When I found an innumerable swarm of winged ants had 
propped round his hole ; which temptation was as irresist- 
ible as a turtle would be to a luxurious alderman. In respect 
to its end, bad it not been for a tame raven, I make no 
ooubt but it would have been now living. This bird one 
day seeing it at the mouth of its hole, pulled it out,’ and 
although I rescued it, pulled out one eye, and hurt it so 
that, notwithstanding its living a twelve-month, it never 
tlii° ye , U r ’ anC *~ d a difficult y taking its food, missing 
t e mark for want of its eye. Before that accident, it had 
•01 the appearance of perfect health.” 
Ihetoad, contrary to vutgar prejudice, is an harmless, 
tli C j Ce , 88 c,eature 5 torpid and unvenomous, and seeking 
e darkest retreats, not from the malignity of its nature! 
the multitude of its enemies. 
Bike all of the frog kind, the toad is torpid in winter. It 
booses then for a retreat either the hollow root of a tree, the 
ett of a rock, or sometimes the bottom of a pond, where it 
round in a state of seeming insensibility. As it is verv 
ong-hved, it is very difficult to be killed; its skin is toimh 
Wo,,nH ann . 0t be T ,y P. ,erced ; and > thoi 'gt' covered with 
unds, the animal continues to shew signs of life, and every 
for a PP ears J n motion. But what shall we say to its livino- 
centunes lodged in the bosom of a rock, or cased within 
s tur,jr*°!n j* , a 1 ) l swallowed the bee alive ; its stomach was 
«, and the animal vomited it up again. 
V °L. II. 2 G 
