32 
TOAD. 
hall door for some years before this gentleman be- 
came acquainted with him ; but he remembers that 
his father used to call him the old toad. By con- 
stantly being fed, this creature was brought to be so 
tame that he always came to the candle and looked 
up as if expecting to be brought upon the table, 
where he was usually treated with insects of all 
sorts. Fresh maggots appeared to be his favourite 
food : these he would follow, and, when at a proper 
distance, fix his eye upon the object and remain 
motionless for a few seconds ; after which he would 
dart out his tongue upon the maggot, and secure it 
with a motion too quick for the eye to follow. A 
toad so much taken notice of and befriended ex- 
cited the curiosity of all who came to the house, so 
that even ladies so far conquered the horrors in- 
stilled into them by nurses, as to desire to see it 
fed. 
In answer to some queries put to him by Mr. 
Pennant respecting this animal Mr. Arscott says, 
“ No toads that I ever saw appeared in the winter 
season. The old toad made its appearance as soon 
as the warm weather came, and I always concluded 
it retired to some dry bank to repose till the spring. 
When we new-laid the steps I had two holes made 
in the third step on each, with a hollow of more 
than a yard long for it, in which I imagine it slept, 
as it came from thence at its first appearance. 
“ It was seldom provoked; neither that toad 
(nor the multitudes I have seen tormented with 
