In the small shallow ponds so numerous in the high park-lands there is mother frog, which is very abundant all through the summer. Small pools of warm stagnant water at this season of the year are alive with black tadpoles about an inch in legnth. Late in the summer these change into small frogs about a half inch long. During the long winters the frogs bury themselves in the mud and hibernate. Even though they may be frozen stiff for several months they come out in the spring as lively as ever.
Frogs require from four to eight years to reach maturity.
The adult western frog is from two to three inches long. They can change their color at will and very rapidly. At their palest stage they are a light grey with conspicuous black splotches like drops of spilled ink. As they change to a dark reddish or sooty brown these dark spots disappear. The skin is rough, with two folds down the back and a white stripe from the nose to the forelegs just under the eyes.