i88o.] 
( 47i ) 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
CURIOUS PHENOMENON IN A FROG. 
To the Editor of The Journal of Science. 
Sir, — Being on an occasion in my greenhouse I observed a cat 
playing with a small frog — patting it with velvet paw, with the 
evident purpose, for its own amusement, of making it jump : 
this continued some time. Whilst absorbed in the contem- 
plation of a plant my attention was arrested by a very peculiar 
noise— a kind of suppressed shriek, seemingly expressive of 
pain. I looked about to ascertain the cause : the cat was still 
playing with the frog, and from the frog I found the sound pro- 
ceeded. When the cat patted the frog the cry was emitted, evi- 
dently from an excitation of fear, or from weariness excited by 
the forced activity induced by the cat’s undesired attentions. I 
was the more surprised at the sound because I was under the 
impression that all the vocal expressions of frogs was the croak. 
Naturalists are silent on this phenomenon. On the gardener 
coming into the house I called his attention to the peculiarity of 
the cry emitted by the frog. He treated the matter as a very 
commonplace incident, and said it was common with frogs when 
in terror ; that he had frequently heard it, and that it was always 
uttered by frogs when pursued by a snake or a viper. — I am, &c., 
S. B. 
[Our correspondent’s gardener is perfectly correct ; frogs do 
utter shrieks if pursued by serpents. We cannot at the moment 
refer to any text-book of natural history in which this facft is 
mentioned. — E d. J. S.] 
ROOKS SETTLING. 
To the Editor of the Journal of Science . 
g IR i n m y neighbourhood are many rooks. Observing them, 
I saw a rook (they generally, if not always, fly with the wind) 
