The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1894-07-28
Interesting Frogs.

Interesting Frogs.
Boys are personally interested in
frogs--boys and snakes and natural
lists
Boys usually make their observa-
tions by means of n triple hook and a
piece of red flannel, but boy in Con-
, necticut, known to the writer, took
twenty-eight one day with his bare
hands.
Connecticut is q fine state for frogs
There ut old Windham was fought
the famous Battle of the Frogs"
1t was during the French and In
dian war in 1853. Windham was then
the most important frontier town of
Eastern Connecticut Colonel Dyer,
q prominent citizen, was raising an
army to oppose the Indians at Crown
Point. The town was alive with ex-
element. One very dark night the
people were awakened by strange
sounds, and at once thought the In
dians We're upon them. Selling guns,
swords and axes, the men rushed out
to meet the enemy. But no enemy
was to be seen. Still they felt
force of French and Indians must be
Mt hand, for hoarse voices could be
heard calling for Windhams promin-
ent military leaders.
Colonel Dyer and Elderkin, too"
Colonel Dyer and Elderkin, too"
The town was up all night When
day broke the mystery was accident
ally solved. A mile away from the
village lay big marshy pond inhab-
tied by myriads of frogs. A drought
had nearly dried up the water. rcduc-
ing it to tiny streamlet, and for this
scanty supply the poor thirsty crea-
lures had fought each other, until
thousands lay dead on either side of
the rill.
This battle made Windham famous.
For years the inhabitants felt badly
leased and insulted by its mention.
Now, however, the story is no longer
a joke but a priced tradition.
Snakes are as fond of frogs as the
traditional Frenchman who esteemed
them delicacy. A frog has often
been found swallowed whole and
alive in n slaughtered snake. One
snake known.to a friend of the chron-
icler Jared badly enough by his greed
for his favorite dainty. He had swal-
lowed one frog and then had started
TO crawl through crevicc in stone
wall. Before he had dragged through
his entire length he espied another
plump little fellow and took him in,
whereupon he found himself securely
fastened down under the stones una
BILE to move either way, and was dis
patched by the spectator.
Naturalists consider the frog very
interesting fellow and other observ-
ant people have learned curious facts
concerning these amphibious crea-
lures.
A gentleman living in the southern
part of France hal u very large fro.'
pond on his grounds and was fond of
studying the habits of its inhabitants.
One day he saw IL great change in the
appearance of certain frog of which
he had made pet 1t looked as if it.
had in some way acquired pair Of
the pulled brooches which gentlemen
used to wear in the courts OF James
the First of England and Louis the
Thirteenth of France. This change
made him curious to know what it
meant and all the more so when he
found that almost every day more
and more of the frogs were wearing
the same queer looking things.
BY watching carefully the gentle
man soon found the cause of the
strange, new article of frog dress.
The mother frog, it seems, considers
that her duty is discharged when she
has laid her eggs. These all adhere
together, forming long chain of
many links. AS soon as she has de-
posted these on the bank of the pond
she hops away, seeming to forget all
about them, and they would never
hatch out if the father frog did not
come to the rescue. With no little
difficulty he winds these chains of
neglected eggs around his own thighs
thus producing the appearance of
the pulled breeches.
lie then proceeds to hide himself
among the marshy grasses around the
pond until the eggs are ready to hatch
out Then he goes into the water.
ting out the young tadpoles, which
Immediately swim away without SO
much as thank YOU"
Another very motherly father of
the frog family is found in South
America, in Chilli He is provided
with large sac, or pouch, which ex.
tends over the whole surface of his
belly, from the mouth downwards.
There is no external opening into this
sac, and when Mr.. Darwin first saw
male frog apparently swallowing the
eggs he thought he was the worst
kind of a fellow to be eating his own
children! s t
But this thought was q great in