The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1909-07-03
By W. SEWARD WALLACE

~ IRDS and squirrels are such. DEM
enstrative. beautiful creatures that
- they absorb much attention when
.. we are in the country. Yet We. ought
net to forget that our beautiful land
IS favored with natural dwellers in
woodland and meadow which are not
hrics or bunnies. but which are never
theiess highly interesting.
Our true frogs are those that live
in the water Itself. or near it. and not
on land or In trees We VIII probably
see first the common leopard frog and
the pickerel frog, both ardent song
.sters Of marsh and swamp. It seems
puzzling that q frog should have four
legs and no tail. while their tiny babies
have long fine tail and no legs. But
as they grow and grow their tails be-
come shorter. while the soft skin Of
their sides pushes out into knobs.
where the legs are coming beneath.
The hind legs appear first as short
protrusions; then the front ones come,
and gradually the tadpole finds he has
four legs as we'll as a taft. And now
he begins 60. swim cess and TO climb
and cling more. Tail going, becoming
smaller and smaller, while the tadpole
is getting. oh, so hungry. He is abb
sorbing his tan and his appetite is
growing. while the curious gills with
which his neck has been fringed pref
lilly all along now wither Qp- Finally
he looks as much like q frog as can
be- except that he stiu has very
short tail. His body has shortened Up
some: too, while the absurd little legs
begin 10 grow long and strong. It
IS At first a race between the front and
the hind legs and between gills and
tail, But the tails have it," while
the hind legs soon outrun the front
ones. The last stage of his growth
now commences. lie loses all his tail,
the front legs are. bowed, like bull
dogs. and the hind ones develop enor-
nous muscles, with which later in life
he win leap. six TO eight feet easily. It
win take him two or three years to
grow. up.
Most frogs and toads undergo a
similar change which is called by a
long word metan1orphosis. The but
terhy grows from a worm by similar
sort OF change, in its cocoon, the worm
Matching from an egg first.
The pickeFel frog you can tell by his
handsome back. which is a fine light
brown and has two rows of large
obiong. square marks down it OF dark
eT brown Along each side of his nose
runs q black line His relative, the
leopard. is bright green or greenish
brown sometimes. and his marks are
irregular black blotches edged with
white, whence his name, the leopard
frog. Both these live in ponds and
the deep. darkened places in swamps,
where the yellow marigolds and the
blue water lilies live also, They are
by far. the noisiest fellows if we except
master 'bullfrog and the rare spade
footed toad. whose noise requires sepa-
rate mention.
Another pretty and familiar frog is
the quiet, gentle wood frog. whose sci
entific name, Rama sylYatica, or the
sylvan frog. is well earned by his
habit OK dwelling in the prettiest
wooded ponds and damp woods He is
2 small. delicate. creature, pale red
dish brown. nearly plain but with q
broad. almost red band from his mouth
20 his eye. along the head. His note
Is feeble. so he has earned the name,
the silent. also.
In. clear springs. ponds and brooks
we will meet almost everywhere east
OF the prairfes a splendid green frog
whose white throat and bright eyes will
NAL ke US love him on sight He jumps,
plump. splash into the water and then