The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1881-06-16
American TOads and Frogs.

toads and frogs in this country than can
any other land. What 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 de-
tect first one variety, then another, each
occupying the stage from three or four
days to week. The latter part of
April, when the little peeping frogs
tadpoles-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 i'm
penetrable maze or cloud of shril musi-
cal voices. After the peppers, the next
frog to appear is the clucking frog,
rather small, dark-bro frog, with
harsh, clucking note. Their chorus is
heard for few days only, while their
spawn is being deposited. In less than
week they disappear, and 1
never see .. or 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-
FIRING note. The voice of the bull-frog,
who calls, according to the boys, "jug
O rum, jug O. rum, -" pull the plug"
"pull the plug" is not heard much be-
fore June. The peppers, the clucking-
frog and the bull-frog are the only ones
that call in chorus. The most interest
ing and most shy and withdrawn of all
our frogs and toads is the treetoad-the
creature that, from the old apple or
cherry tree, or red cedar, announces the
approach of rain, and battles your every
effort to see or discover him. It has not
Gas some people inagine) 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 1t
perfectly with the bark of nearly every
tree. The only change in it's color 1
have ever noticed is that it is lighter ON
ight-colored tree, like the beech or
soft maple, and darker ON the apple or
cedar or pine. Then it is usually hid
den in some cavity or hollow of the tree,
when its voice appears to come from the
outside" Pepacton."
Death from a Bush Fire.
In one of Cooper's Leather Stocking
Tales there is graphic description of
prairie fire. The novelist also de-
scribes how an Indian chief, caught
within it's fiery embrace, saved his life
by hiding himself within the carcass of
buffalo, which he had killed and dis
emboweled. In Australia a similar con-
hagration is known as a "bush fire"
The tragic story of one, which occurred
in South Australia, is relieved by no
such thrilling incident as Cooper's In
dams escape
Martin Mccarthy, with four of his
| sons, left their thatched homestead in
the Hundred of Hunker to reap the
wheat which stood ripe for the sickle at
q distance of about mile.
They noticed bush fire about dozen
miles off, but, as the wind was in the
opposite direction, they thought nothing
of it, and went on reaping till dinner
time.
Immediately after that meal, which
they took in the field, the wind veered
round, and, rising to hurricane, swept
the fire down upon their farm. Des-
perately plunging through the binding
| smoke, they barely succeeded in gain
ing clearing 100 yards distant before
huge tongues of fire fifty feet high
rushed past them, roaring and kissing
| as they licked up every veshge of veg
citation in their course.
When the flames had subsided, Nc
| Carthy, followed by his boys, hastened
with terrible forebodings across the
plain, to see if any of his family had
been spared.
As he ran toward the chimney, which
| alone remained to mark the site of his
| dwelling, he stumbled over the charred
corpse of his wife.
7-year-old boy, and round the chime,
lay the remains of his five daughters.
| The eldest, girl of 10, clasped in
her arms the youngest, baby of years
bush fires, this unusual holocaust cast a
| gloom over the neighborhood.