Tree frog

“ The European tree-frog spends most of its time in the summer, after the pairing is over, in trees, often in the very crowns; but the neighbourhood of even a small patch of Indian corn has still greater attractions. There are all sorts of green insects to be caught, there are fair chances of coming across the common Cabbage White, a butterfly which the tree-frog loves, and last not least the large luscious leaves afford a firm foothold, and the axillae between stalk and broad-based leaves are just the places for the frog to slip into, where nobody can find it. ”

“ The best-known tree frog is the little Hyla arborea of continental Europe, rainette of the French, Laubfrosch of the Germans, often kept in glass cylinders provided with a ladder, which the frog is supposed to ascend or descend in prevision of the weather. ”

“ Nature always discovers such cunning schemes to get over apparent difficulties in her way: and the tree-frogs have solved the problem for themselves in half a dozen manners in different localities. Oddest of all, perhaps, is the dodge invented by “Darwin’s frog,” a Chilean species, in which the male swallows the eggs as soon as laid, and gulps them into the throat-pouch beneath his capacious neck: there they hatch out and pass through their tadpole stage: and when at last they arrive at frogly maturity, they escape into the world through the mouth of their father. ”

“ 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. ”

“ This large tree frog has been found only in the lowlands below elevation of about 1000 meters, usually in arid tropical scrub forest. Calling males were heard on rainy nights throughout the rainy season; in nearly every instance both males and females were found in low trees and bushes. On summer nights when there had been no rain, adults were found sitting on bushes in the scrub forest. ”

“ This small tree frog congregated in large numbers at a forest pond at Toocog. Between June 30 and July 2 we collected specimens and observed the breeding habits of this and other species at the pond. Calling males were distributed around the pond, where they called from low herbaceous vegetation at the edge of the pond or from plants rising above the water. Calling commenced at dusk [224] and continued at least into the early hours of the morning. On one occasion a female was observed at a distance of about 50 centimeters away from a calling male sitting on a blade of grass. ”

“ The Snake went gliding through the133 wet grass, as hungry as ever, the Tree Frog was as happy as when he was a Tadpole, and only the Grasshoppers and their cousins, the Locusts and Katydids, were cross. "Such a horrid rain!" they grumbled, "it spoiled all our fun. And after such lovely hot weather too."
"Now don't be silly," said the Tree Frog, who could be really severe when he thought best, "the Bees and the Ants are not complaining, and they had a good deal harder time than you. Can't you make the best of anything? ”

“ His opinion is that the birds mistake the quivering tongue for a worm or insect, and that organ, considered by the ignorant to be endowed with 'stinging powers,' may consequently act as a bait to lure the incautious food within reach of the fatal jaws." [86] The Tree-Frog (Hyla) is of a light green colour when seated upon a light green leaf, but becomes dark brown when transferred to dark surroundings. "Hence this animal adapts itself to the colour of its environment, and thus gains protection from its enemies." [87] ”

“ The Green Tree Frog is easily distinguished by having little plates under its toes. These organs are a species of sucker, by means of which the animal is enabled, like the house-fly, to cling strongly to any surface, however smooth and polished it may be. The smoothest branch, even the lower surface of a leaf, forms a sufficient hold and support to these delicate organs. ”

“ Our modern tailless Amphibia, frogs and toads, appear much later in the story of the earth, but they are not without interest here on account of the remarkable capacity which they show to adapt themselves to different surroundings. There are frogs, like the tree-frog of Martinique, and others in regions where water is scarce, which never pass through the tadpole stage; or, to be quite accurate, they lose the gills and tail in the egg, as higher land-animals do. ”

“ Of frogs there are several kinds, such as the small green tree frog, the small frog common in the United States, which sings in the spring of the year, a species of frog frequenting the water, much larger than the bull-frog, and in shape between the delicate length of the bull-frog, and the shorter and less graceful form of the toad like ”

“ Tree-frogs are not very intelligent, although they have a keen sense of locality; but they are nice pets, being easily kept, and have a pretty appearance. There is a record of one which lived for twenty-two years in confinement.
The pairing begins soon after the frogs reappear from their hibernation in the ground; in Germany in the month of May. The congregating males make a great noise and take to the water before the females, which join them when ready to spawn. The male grasps his mate near the shoulders, and the pair swim about together, sometimes for days, until the eggs are expelled. ”

“ Both live on live prey, as for example aquatic larvæ, worms, flies and other insects, and snails, and they never touch vegetable matter; therefore they are good helpers in our gardens.
“Tree-toads—or, less correctly, tree-frogs—differ from ordinary frogs in having viscous cushions at the end of their toes, which enable them to climb trees, where they hunt insects. They stay all summer in the foliage and go to the water only to lay their eggs. Their cry, which gains force from a sort of pocket that shows plainly under the throat, is very loud and raucous. ”

“ In many tropical Frogs the reproductive habits are much modified. One species (Phyllobates trinitatis) of Venezuela and Trinidad carries its tadpoles on its back, to which the young attach themselves by means of their suckers. A frog of the Seychelles Islands lives in the tree-ferns far from water, and carries its young about on its back, to which they are attached by their bellies. In the Kameruns lives a Frog that lays its eggs in a foamy mass on the leaves of a tree. ”

“ The nests are from eight to ten inches in diameter by four in height, and made ingeniously by weaving the layers of grass together. When frightened, these frogs throw out a limpid stream of water, which has been stored up in time of need, as in very dry weather, and which is distributed over the body, so as to keep the whole of it moist. The tree-frogs are very pretty little creatures, their light green colour exactly matching that of the leaves on which they live, so that it is difficult to detect their presence, except by close inspection. ”

“ Some American tree-frogs, on the other hand, imitate rather the motherly Solenostoma than the fatherly instincts of the pipe-fish or the stickleback. These pretty little creatures have a pouch like the kangaroo, but in their case (as in the kangaroo’s) it is the female who bears it. Within this safe receptacle the eggs are placed by the male, who pushes them in with his hind feet; and they not only undergo their hatching in the pouch, but also pass through their whole tadpole development in the same place. ”

“ During the summer they live upon the leaves of trees in damp woods, and pass the winter at the bottom of some pond, which they do not leave till the month of May, after having deposited their eggs. They feed on small insects, worms, and mollusks; and in order to catch them, they will remain in the same place an entire day. During the glare of the sun, they remain hidden amongst the leaves; but when twilight approaches, they move about and climb up the trees. We must repeat of these Green Tree Frogs what we have already said of Frogs. ”

“ Here the eggs hatch and the young tadpoles are swept into the pond by the next heavy rain. The mud walls apparently protect the eggs from depredations by fish. Adults stay in trees except at the time of egg-laying. The male is said to come to the pond first to build the nest, before the female arrives to lay the eggs. The frog that quacks like a duck is a closely related species. It has a peculiar habit of swarming. Hundreds may appear at one time in a single tree.
One of the golden frogs is about three inches long and almost pure gold in color. ”

“ In roads and gardens one occasionally meets huge toads six or seven inches long; but the most abundant and most interesting of the tribe are those adapted for an arboreal life, and hence called tree-frogs. Their toes terminate in discs, by means of which they can cling firmly to leaves and stems. The majority of them are green or brown, and these usually feed at night, sitting quietly during the day so as to be almost invisible, owing to their colour and their moist shining skins so closely resembling vegetable surfaces. ”

“ The arboreal species were thus associated with the true tree-frogs, regardless of their internal structure. We now know that such adaptations are of comparatively small importance, and cannot be utilized for establishing groups higher than genera in a natural or phylogenetic classification. The tree-frogs, Hylidae, with which the arboreal Ranidae were formerly grouped, show in their anatomical structure a close resemblance to the toads, Bufonidae, and are therefore placed far away from the true frogs, however great the superficial resemblance between them.
Some frogs grow to a large size. ”

“ A crow, who had flown away with a cheese from a dairy-window, sate perched on a tree looking down at a great big frog in a pool underneath him. ”

“ The colours of the Tree-frogs are various, and are often brilliant and beautiful; like many other Reptiles they have the faculty of changing their hues to an extent that often affords them protection, by rendering them difficult to be discerned. ”

“ At night the frogs come down out of the leaves and go to ponds and streams in the neighborhood in search of insects. Their leaf sleeping chambers apparently give them complete protection from their natural enemies.
One gray and brown Brazilian frog, extremely sluggish by day, when handled assumes a wooden, dead appearance, with the limbs brought close to the body and the head bent forward, so that it resembles a patch of fungus or a chip of wood. Even when left on their backs for a long time they continue to play dead. ”

“ In the fall they leave their hunting grounds in the fields and woods and take refuge near swamps and ponds, passing the winter in the banks of rivers or the mud in the bottoms of ponds, whence they come out in the spring, when the process of reproduction begins. The frog is not sexually mature till it is four or five years old. The coupling process lasts from three to thirty days. Between its spring wakening and spawning the frog eats nothing except, perhaps, its own skin, which it moults periodically. After spawning, frogs leave the water and go to the fields and woods. ”

“ The entire frog family is as protectively colored as this least member, the cricket-frog. They all carry fern-seed in their pockets and go invisible. Notice the wood-frog with his tan suit and black cheeks. He is a mere sound as he hops about over the brown leaves. I have had him jump out of the way of my feet and vanish while I stared hard at him. He lands with legs extended, purposely simulating the shape of the ragged, broken leaves, and offers, as the only clue for one's baffled eyes, the moist glisten as his body dissolves against the dead brown of the leaf-carpet. ”

“ Although from the moment the gills disappear the frog is a true land animal, he is obliged, on account of the fish-like character of his young, to lay his eggs in the water. For this purpose the frogs enter the pools in early spring. The surface of every country pond swarms with the bright-eyed little creatures. They have awakened from a long, cold, winter sleep, to find the spring about them and within them. Life has suddenly become abundant and joyous. Their sluggish blood flows faster, their hearts beat quicker ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”