. Familiar life in field and forest; the animals, birds, frogs, and salamanders . th, the coloring is dull white merging into yel-low under the chin; the hind legs are marked withthree or four transverse dark bands. THE CROAKERS. 29 The next nearest relative of liana clamata is thebullfrog (liana catesbiana), the largest of all theAmerican species; he frequently measures four anda half inches from the nose to the end of the is the bass viol of the batrachianrchestra, and the king of all thecroaking tribe of Rana, butsort of canni-into the bar-gain, for heis known tofeast on hisown tad-
. Familiar life in field and forest; the animals, birds, frogs, and salamanders . th, the coloring is dull white merging into yel-low under the chin; the hind legs are marked withthree or four transverse dark bands. THE CROAKERS. 29 The next nearest relative of liana clamata is thebullfrog (liana catesbiana), the largest of all theAmerican species; he frequently measures four anda half inches from the nose to the end of the is the bass viol of the batrachianrchestra, and the king of all thecroaking tribe of Rana, butsort of canni-into the bar-gain, for heis known tofeast on hisown tad-pole prog-eny. Butthis is a badhabit not whollyconfined to thebig Rana catesbiana. Any one who has fished forfrogs with a bit of red worsted tied to a fishhookknows how the gaping, wide-mouthed creatures willsnap at anything that comes along without discrim-ination ; in fact, a tadpole for bait will do almost aswell as a bit of red worsted. Apropos of this fact,Dr. Abbotts remarks about the voracity of frogs arewell worth repeating: While feeding an Andersons Hyla with flies a. The Bullfrog {Rana catesbiana). 30 FAMILIAR LIFE IX FIELD AND FOREST. few days ago, which it takes from my fingers, I wasstartled by the on-rush of a little wood frog, which,impatient for its own dinner, seriously attempted toswallow both the tree toad and my fingers at onemighty gulp. . With widely gaping jaws, whichwere distended before the leap was made, the frog at-tempted to scoop up the toad and swallow it, or getsuch a hold as would make subsequent swallowingan easy task; and yet the difference in size of thetwo creatures was very little. As for the tree toad,it took the whole proceeding as a matter of course,not moving a muscle even when such great dangerwas apparently imminent. The whole tribe of tail-less batrachians is much alike in this respect, seem-ingly taking it for granted that they were born to beeaten, and stuff themselves until fate wills it thatthey go to stuff others. ... I have see
Size: 1650px × 1515px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorma, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectzoology
