The Writings of John Burroughs — Volume 05: PepactonBurroughs, John
History
The Writings of John Burroughs — Volume 05: Pepacton
Burroughs, John
Natural history -- Outdoor books
We can boast a greater assortment of toads and frogs in this
country than can any other land. What a chorus goes up from our
ponds and marshes in spring! The like of it cannot be heard
anywhere else under the sun. In Europe it would certainly have
made an impression upon the literature. An attentive ear will
detect first one variety, then another, each occupying the stage
from three or four days to a week. The latter part of April, when
the little peeping frogs are in full chorus, one comes upon places,
in his drives or walks late in the day, where the air fairly
palpitates with sound; from every little marshy hollow and spring
run there rises an impenetrable maze or cloud of shrill musical
voices. After the peepers, the next frog to appear is the clucking
frog, a rather small, dark-brown frog, with a harsh, clucking note,
which later in the season becomes the well-known brown wood-frog.
Their chorus is heard for a few days only, while their spawn is
being deposited. In less than a week it ceases, and I never hear
them again till the next April. As the weather gets warmer, the
toads take to the water, and set up that long-drawn musical tr-r-r-
r-r-r-r-ing note. The voice of the bullfrog, who calls, according
to the boys, "jug o' rum," "jug o' rum," "pull the plug," "pull
the plug," is not heard much before June. The peepers, the
clucking frog, and the bullfrog are the only ones that call in
chorus. The most interesting and the most shy and withdrawn of all
our frogs and toads is the tree-toad,--the creature that, from the
old apple or cherry tree, or red cedar, announces the approach of
rain, and baffles your every effort to see or discover it. It has
not (as some people imagine) exactly the power of the chameleon to
render itself invisible by assuming the color of the object it
perches upon, but it sits very close and still, and its mottled
back, of different shades of ashen gray, blends it perfectly with
the bark of nearly every tree. The only change in its color I have
ever noticed is that it is lighter on a light-colored tree, like
the beech or soft maple, and darker on the apple, or cedar, or
pine. Then it is usually hidden in some cavity or hollow of the
tree, when its voice appears to come from the outside.
Most of my observations upon the habits of this creature run
counter to the authorities I have been able to consult on the
subject.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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