426 
SCOUTING FOR GIRLS 
TOAD 
A valuable animal in the garden because of the insects which 
it eats. Range: Eastern United States. Photograph by Herbert 
Lang. 
of front legs, while the tail and gills are absorbed, all 
within a little more than a month from the time the eggs 
are laid. During this change a pair of lungs is devel- 
oped, so that the toads breathe air like human beings do. 
The eggs of toads and frogs may be collected in the 
spring in ponds, and this remarkable change from the 
egg through the tadpole stage to the adult form may be 
observed in a simple home aquarium. Toads’ eggs may 
be distinguished from those of frogs by the fact that 
toads’ eggs are laid in strings, while frogs’ eggs are 
laid in masses. 
Every Girl Scout should know the song of the toad. 
William Hamilton Gibson says it is “the sweetest sound 
in nature.” ( Sharp Eyes , p. 54.) If you do not know it, 
take a lantern or electric flash-lamp after dark some eve- 
ning in the spring at egg-laying time, and go to the 
edge of some pond and see the toad sing. Notice how 
the throat is puffed out while the note is being produced. 
