OVKRTON" ; I.ONC; ISI.AXD KKdCS AND TOADS. ,^5 
A leojiard froo; croaks wliile sittin.t;- still, half subnierged in shallow- 
water near the banks of a ])ool. While it is croaking it distends a lar^^e 
\-ocal sac o\er each shonlder. One about to croak slowly distends its 
bod\-, and then suddenK- inflates its vocal sacs as it begins its sound. 
The sacs continue to swell while the sound is emitted, and instantly col- 
la]\se at its close. When the frog sings with a chorus of others, it emits 
a series of four or five quick croaks while its sacs continue to distend 
until the\- reach their full cai)acit\-. The sacs then sitddenly collairse 
while the air is drawn Ijack into the bod\-, but the}- may be again dis- 
tended, and the song resumed so (|uickl>- that there is scarceh' a break 
in the sounds. 
The chorus of leojiard frogs usualK begins about the last week in 
March, and continues with diminishing voluine until the la.st week in 
Ma\-. The frogs are much more sh\- than the spring jieepers, but still 
the\- ma\- be apjiroached readil\- with a lantern. 
The leojiard frog is the conunun sjM.tted frog of marshes, esjieciallx' 
of .salt marshes. It is very common on the salt marshes of the Great 
South Beach. In the summer it is found on land much more frequentl\- 
than in the water. The bod\- of a full-grown sjiecimen is three or four 
inches long. 
The back of a leo])ard frog is dark lirown or olive or almost black in 
color, and its under parts are jnire white. It ma\- be known b>- the dark 
sjiots on its back and legs. Each sjiot is surrounded b\- a narrow- 
whitish rim. The only other Long Island frog that has sjwts on its back 
is the pickerel frog, but the hinder jiarts of this .sjiecies are yellow- 
underneath, while the leojiard frog is jiure white on all its under parts. 
7. PICKEREL FROG 
Raiia pa/i(s/ris Le Conte 
Length of body 7.60 to 9 centimeters ( ;, to ;^.S'> inches). Bofly rather slender. 
Feet webbed. Color above, dark yellow or brown with darker spots not liordered 
with white. Tiider parts white in front, yellow behind. 
A sjiotted frog that is .seen in jiools and .streams awa\- from .salt 
meadows and low plains is more likel\- to be the jiickerel frog than the 
leopard frog. Pickerel frogs are not nearh- so common on Long Island as 
leojiard frogs, but still they are jilentiful, e.specialh- along the edges of 
mill ponds. They prefer to lie under overhanging grasses and weeds, 
and are not easilv indticed to come into the ojien water. 
