OVRRTOX : I.OXC; ISLAND FROGS AXl) TOADS. 3 1 
in a tussock of t^rass looks like a withered leaf. Its favorite re.stiiic; ]ilace 
is on a lily pad where its color is exactly matched. The color of the frog' 
is either the dark olive of the upjier surface of the lily leaf, or the rich 
brown of its under side. Many of the leaves have their under sides 
exposed at their edges, and so whether the frog be green or brown, it is 
almost invi.sible in its native marsh. 
The voice of a cricket frog is a combination of a rattle and a musical 
clink, but it is only about half as loud as that of a spring peeper. A 
chorus heard at a di.stance sounds like the jingling of .small .sleigh bells, 
for the musical element of its call travels farther than the rattle. A 
chorus heard close by sounds like the rattle of small ]iebbles ])OUred upon 
a cement yiavement. 
An iudix'idual frog sings for from thirt\' to fort.\'-fi\'e seconds at a 
time. Its call has three phases. The first phase lasts for about five 
seconds and sounds like the clicks of a box's marble dropped upon a 
cement ])avemeut once or twice a .second from a height of about six 
inches. The second phase sounds like the galloping of a small jiony on 
a brick pavement, or like the clicks of a bo}-'s marlile dropjied n])on a 
pa\-ement from a height of onl\' an inch or two, and alloxved to l)ounce 
twice each time. The third phase sounds like the regular cree-cree- 
creeing of a tree cricket, or like the rattle of a boy's marble that bounces 
ra]ndh- when it is dropped at frequent intervals from a height of onl\ 
half an inch. The time and rhvthni of the sounds are about the same 
as that of the following sxdlables iironounced with the sjieed of ordinarx- 
reading: — "click, click, click, click, click-e-t_v, click-e-t\-. 
click-e't\-, click-e-t>', click-e-ty, cree, cree, cree, cree ". 
The cricket frog inflates a vocal sac under its chin during its call. It 
often sits qnietlN' with its sac distended for man\- minutes between its calls. 
The violent eiforts of its bod\' in ]iroducing its sound make the frog 
resemble a small boy on his hands and knees blowing a fire with all his 
might. The vocal .sac is bright yellow and when it is seen distended in 
the day time, it is so conspicuous that it reveals nian>' a .singer that 
otherwi.se would be almost in\-isible on a lil\- pad. 
Cricket frogs are found in grass>- marshes on the we.st end of Long 
Island as far east as Massapequa at least. The\- sing through all the 
month of Ma}'. On June 5, 1914, they were extremeh" abundant and 
noisy in .several marshes in the vicinity of Jamaica. The>- are not 
suspicious and will retain the same position for minutes at a time. The\- 
max- be ol).served and iihotograjihed e\-en more readih* than the si)ring 
jieepers {I /via pickiiiiii;!]. 
