358 
CONTENT. 
NOCTURNAL FOREST SOUNDS. 
Various and strange are the sounds which strike 
the ear of one benighted in the forests of Jamaica. 
Some of these are the voices of night-birds, the rapid 
articulations of the Piramidig, the monotonous call 
or startling scream of the White Owl, the shrill wail 
of the Dusky Owl, the hoot of the Potoo, or the 
loud and reiterated cries of the Clucking-hen ; and 
some are insect sounds. But, besides these, there 
are some which are certainly produced by Reptiles, 
though it is difficult to identify them. Nearly every 
night, at certain seasons, there ascends from the 
woods around Content a continual snoring of various 
tones, the voices of numberless Tree-frogs, or, as 
they are here called. Toads. They are said to reside 
in the large ventricose leaves of the greater Wild- 
pines, especially that fine one, Tillandsia lingulata, 
which, about the end of July, sends up a magnificent 
flower, somewhat like a huge carnation, with broad 
outer petals of a rich crimson hue and polished sur- 
face, and a cluster of smaller interior ones of pale 
yellow. In the coolness and moisture of these na- 
tural reservoirs, always half full of water collected 
from rains and dews, the Tree-frogs delight to lie, 
finding in them circumstances eminently congenial 
for the maintenance of cutaneous humidity, so essen- 
tial in these reptiles to respiration. They are very 
rarely seen, and, but for their vocal powers by night, 
we should scarcely be aware of their existence ; the 
number and universality of these sounds, however, 
in the mountain-woods, during the hours of darkness. 
