The Frogs

“ We have no music in our groves but that of the frogs, which set up such a shrill and perpetual chorus every evening, that we can scarce hear each other speak. The regular manner in which the bass and treble voices respond to each other is perfectly ludicrous, so that in the midst of my impatience I have caught myself laughing. Then we have every possible variety of note, from the piping squeak of the tree-frog, to the deep, guttural croak, almost roar, of the bull-frog. ”

“ The water grew muddier and muddier, until even Grandfather Frog began to look annoyed. Billy Mink and Little Joe Otter started off up the Laughing Brook, where the water was clear. The Merry Little Breezes danced away across the Green Meadows to play with Johnny Chuck, and Grandfather Frog settled himself comfortably on his big green lily-pad to dream of the days when the world was young and the frogs ruled the world. ”

“ Whenever we went there we always took away the side fences, and sat flat down upon the smooth stones at the edges of the brook and played with the frogs.
Here we used to watch our gay young polliwogs grow into frogs, one leg at a time coming out at each “corner” of their fat wriggling bodies. We kept two great bull-frogs,—splendid bass singers both of them,—that had been stoned by naughty small boys, and left for dead by the roadside. ”

“ If there is one sweetmeat sweeter than all others to a coon, it is a frog. It was not mere chance that Mux was born in the edge of the Bear Swamp, close to the wide marshes that ran out to the river. This was the great country of the frogs—the milk-and-honey country to the ring-tailed family in the hollow gum. But Mux had never tasted frog. He had not been weaned when I kidnapped him. One day, wishing to see if he knew what a frog was, I carelessly offered him a big spotted fellow that I had caught in the meadow. ”

“ They swam about, ate all the frogs they could hold, and were as happy as well-fed ducks could be. They hadn't anything to worry about, so why shouldn't they be happy? They thought they were very lucky to have found such a lovely spot in which to make a nest and raise a family. They made themselves perfectly at home in the Frog Pond. They liked the tall grasses and the quiet water. They loved this home better than any other they had ever had. It was so safe. Then there was such fine swimming and so much to eat. They could eat just as many frogs as they wanted. ”

“ And then two more shining points, and two more, till twelve or fifteen frogs were gathered about my beacon, as thick as they could find elbow room on the float, all staring and blinking like so many strange water owls come up from the bottom to debate weighty things, with a little flickering will-o'-the-wisp nodding grave assent in the midst of them. But never a word was spoken; the silence was perfect.
Sometimes one, more fascinated or more curious than the others, would climb onto the float, and put his nose solemnly into the light. ”

“ A will-o'-the-wisp was dancing over the meadows, and a chorus of frogs was singing away with might and main,—the shrill piping of mother frog and the deep bass of father frog, with a host of aunts and cousins, all singing their merry spring song. ”

“ Doesn't it seem strange that when the ducks were so happy the frogs were so miserable? Now the frogs were happier than they had ever been before, and the poor ducks were somewhere in the woods sighing and calling over and over again for their lost babies. Some folks just can't live happily together.
Mrs. House Frog came hurrying through the deep woods. Long before she reached the pond she had heard the singing of the frogs. She knew this must be the place the Lark had told her about. She panted a little as the frogs all crowded about her. ”

“ Now in the well were some frogs, so the elder sister said: “Sister, do you see these frogs? The name of the Rajah you are about to marry is Dhuddoo, or Frog, and you think that he is a man, but he is, in reality, a frog.” ”

“ SOME BOYS, playing near a pond, saw a number of Frogs in the water and began to pelt them with stones. They killed several of them, when one of the Frogs, lifting his head out of the water, cried out: “Pray stop, my boys: what is sport to you, is death to us.” ”

“ A BUTCHER.
January 10, 1790. Frog Hunting. Published by T. Rowlandson, 50 Poland [270] Street.—Three Frenchman of quality, adorned in the most modish taste, with their frills, powdered curls, pigtails, ear-rings, ruffles, and dress swords, are plunging knee deep in a pond of water, hunting, with the enthusiasm of true epicures, a party of frightened frogs. A fashionably clad Frenchwoman is standing on the bank, holding a parasol in one hand, and a row of frogs, the spoils of the chase, strung on a skewer, in the other. ”

“ But if thou wilt not let them go, behold I will strike all thy coasts with frogs.
8:3. And the river shall bring forth an abundance of frogs; which shall come up and enter into thy house, and thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the houses of thy servants, and to thy people, and into thy ovens, and into the remains of thy meats:
8:4. And the frogs shall come in to thee, and to thy people, and to all thy servants. ”

“ The birds started, and in another month arrived with their cargo safe, thus verifying the predictions of the Frog, which so enraged the men against the Spider that they put him to death, and he is to this day despised and crushed by all, while the frogs every spring sing forth the praises of their truthful ancestor. ”

“ All our frogs lay their eggs in water in rounded masses, not in strings, as do the toads, usually attached to some submerged stick or plant stem. The tadpoles, light in color, are very voracious, and feed on every sort of flesh that they can bite off and chew with their horny jaws. On the approach of winter the frogs—except the wood frog, which hibernates in the loam of the forest, or in some rotten stump—sink into the mud of the pond or marsh where they live, and pass the cold months in torpidity. ”

“ Frogs are croaking; those persistent frogs whom the muses have ordained to sing for aye in spite of Bion and all tuneful poets dead. We sit and watch the water snakes, the busy rats, the hundred creatures swarming in the fat, well watered soil. ”

“ At length, after many consultations with her cap, the affair was settled, and at the end of the second year after her parting with the queen they all set out.
First walked her bodyguard of grasshoppers, followed by her maids of honour, who were those tiny green frogs you see in the fields, each one mounted on a snail, and seated on a velvet saddle. Next came the water-rats, dressed as pages, and lastly the frog herself, in a litter borne by eight toads, and made of tortoiseshell. ”

“ A quick start, a thrust like lightning—then you would see him shake his frog savagely, beat it upon the nearest stone or root, glide to a tuft of grass, hide his catch cunningly, and go on unincumbered for the next stalk, his weather-vane swinging, swinging in the ceaseless search for frogs, or possible enemies. ”

“ Not so the frogs, which, like the bony fishes, began their career in later times, and have known how to fit themselves into many nooks and corners in life. In almost all countries of the globe they hop merrily about the ponds and ditches, never wandering far from the water, into which they85 jump and dive whenever danger threatens. It is true they are eaten by thousands, both as tadpoles and frogs, by birds, snakes, water-rats, and fish, and even by each other, but they multiply fast enough to keep up the supply, and find plenty of insects both in and out of the ponds. ”

“ By the aid of these well-developed lower limbs, and the prodigious power of their muscular and bony levers, a Frog can raise itself in the air to twenty times its own height, and traverse, at a single bound, a space more than fifty times the length of its own body.”
The food of the Frogs in the tadpole condition consists of decaying vegetable matter, though they do not refuse to prey upon animal substances also. In the adult state they feed on insects, slugs, &c., in the taking of which the tongue is principally employed. ”

“ Why should we not follow with our eyes their movements in our ponds, where they enliven the solitude without disturbing its tranquillity. Frogs often leave the water, not only to seek their nourishment, but to warm themselves in the sun. When they repose thus, with the head lifted up, the body raised in front and supported upon the hind feet, the attitude is more that of an animal of higher organization than that of a mean and humble Batrachian. Frogs feed on larvæ, aquatic insects, worms, and small mollusks. They choose their prey from living and moving creatures ”

“ When all the tadpoles have become real little Frogs, with their legs sufficiently firm to enable them to indulge in hopping exercises, they still for a time venture no further than the very shallow water at the extreme edge of the pond, where they can walk partially submerged. Then one day there comes a heavy summer rain storm—a deluge on a small scale. Every little Frog then appears to hear the word "Go!" for with one impulse they all scramble out of the pond into the jungle of wet grass, they know not whither. ”

“ The Frogs are endued with considerable powers of voice; their efforts, it is true, are not very musical; a hoarse guttural croaking is the sound with which we are most familiar, but some foreign species utter various other discordant noises, such as shrieks long-protracted, and intolerably shrill and piercing, whistlings, snorings as of a person in oppressed slumber, or the deep bellowings of a bull. ”

“ It is as impossible to guess the direction whence the noises come as it is to find the creatures themselves. They are but a million infinitesimal shrillnesses merging in an uproar that nevertheless soothes and lulls. From the gray void where by day there was a river come other voices, they tell me those of frogs. ”

“ I well remember that in my childhood I had a great dread of toads and frogs, and a relative, to whom I owe much for having directed my mind into the love of animated nature, took up a frog in her hand and made me look at the beautiful gold circle round its eyes, its curious webbed feet, its leaping power arising from the long hind legs ”

“ Then the mother goes into the water, and remains there while each tadpole completes its changes in its own hole, jumping out at last a finished toad.
Yet, in spite of curious habits such as these, the frogs and their companions on the whole lead88 a very monotonous life. They are, it is true, more intelligent than fish, and have learned to know more of the world, but in the long ages that have passed since their ancestors roamed in the coal-forest marshes, other and higher animals have taken possession of the land, and left room only for a few scattered groups of amphibia. ”

“ After they had eaten their breakfast of young frogs and polly-wogs they left the Frog Pond. Mrs. Duck led her family back to the home nest and cuddled them snugly under her warm wings. There were really only eight left, but she didn't seem to notice. She is not very good at numbers. ”

“ The wind had blown off, leaving a loud, bright night, with wings beating in the trees and a persistent organ sound as the full bellows of the earth blew the frogs full of life. ”

“ We are all well acquainted with the common frog, whose grander name is Rana temporaria. We see it—and it is to be feared some of us kill it—in our gardens, among strawberry-beds and damp vegetation. But, whereas frogs feed upon those slugs and insects which are in the habit of pasturing upon our plants, and are themselves indebted to us for not a grain of vegetable matter, we ought by all means to be grateful to them. ”

“ The Golden Tree Frogs wore coats of grass green thickly covered with shiny yellow embroidery that looked like the purest beaten gold. Several of the mother frogs gasped as they saw their beautiful clothes. They went near and touched them gently. They had not known there were such handsome frogs in the world as these. The Golden Tree Frogs were much pleased to be so admired. They believed no other frogs could dress so well.
"A man came to our home and captured us and brought us to this country," said Mr. Golden Tree Frog. "He also brought the Blue Tree Frogs from South America. ”

“ Frogs lie in wait for them when in quest of water, which, in fact, is their principal occupation at the time they are rearing their young. And it is not only the frog that frequents ponds and streams that is thus injurious to them, but the bramble-frog as well, which will come to the hives even in search of them, and, crawling up to the entrance, breathe through the apertures; upon hearing which, a bee flies to the spot, and is snapped up in an instant. ”

“ Curiously enough, during the winter seasons, when frogs as a rule are lying asleep at the bottom of a pool, this frog used to come out of his hole and seek a snug place near the kitchen fire, where he would continue to bask and enjoy himself till the servants retired to rest. ”

“ So industrious are frogs in slug-hunting, that it would be quite worth while to introduce them as sub-gardeners upon our flower-beds. In catching insects, the frog suddenly darts out his tongue, which, at the hinder part, is loose, and covered with a gummy matter. The insect is caught, and the tongue returned with wonderful rapidity. The frog, when it is first hatched, has the constitution of a fish: it is purely aquatic; has a fish's heart, a fish's circulation, and a fish's gills. The tadpole swims as a fish does—by the movement, side-ways, of its tail. ”

“ In fact, the sound of animal life never ceases. Directly after sunset, the herons, bitterns, and cranes begin their discordant cries, and the boat-bills and frogs set up a dismal croaking. The note of one frog deserves a better name: it is an agreeable whistle, and, could it be brought into civilized society, would doubtless have as many admirers as the singing mouse, or the still more marvellous whistling oyster described by ‘Punch.’ All night long, the alligators and fish keep up a continual plunging ”