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FROBISHER

719

FROG

war bird, though this name is given also to the albatross (q. v.) and other birds. It is very large, the spread of wings sometimes being ten feet, and has an extremely long, forked tail and a bill five inches long, hooked at the end. It has a pouch, which is inflated in flight and becomes bright scarlet during the breeding-season. In color the bird is blackish-brown with green and purple reflections; the feathers are much in use for headdress in the Pacific islands. Throughout the tropic regions the bird is met with, and it has been known to wander as far north as Nova Scotia. It is a true ocean-bird, seldom coming to land except to roost on trees near the breeding-quarters. The slightly-built nest is placed in a tree or bush, occasionally on the ground or bare rock, and contains one egg. It is said that both male and female incubate, sitting close together and snapping at any intruder. The flight of the frigate-bird is wonderfully swift and long-sustained. The birds are usually seen singly or in pairs. They do not dive for their prey, but with ease seize the surface-swimming birds that constitute their chief food; they also feed on squids, small crabs, flying fish and young turtles. They are adept as robbers, forcing terns and boobies to give up their prey and catching it before it reaches the water. It has been asserted that they pass from Africa to South America in a day.

Fro'bisher, Sir Martin, one of the great seamen of the age of Elizabeth, was born in Yorkshire about 1535. Sent to sea as a boy, he formed, at an early age, his lifelong dream of a northwest.passage to Cathay. Following out this idea, he made three voyages to the region of Labrador. Later on he commanded a vessel in Drake's expedition to the West Indies, and covered himself with glory by his conduct in the struggle with the Spanish Armada. His later years were spent in scouring the seas for the treasure-ships bound from the New World to Spain. At the siege of Croyzon, near Brest, in 1594, he was wounded, and died at Plymouth, England on Nov. 7 of the same year. See Life by Rev. P. Jones.

Froebel (frPbel), Friedrich Wilhelm August, a German reformer in education, was born in Thuringia, April 21, 1782. His early years were spent partly in study and partly in teaching, for which he had a marvelous fitness. His underlying idea in education was to follow nature in the unfolding of the pupil's mind; letting it grow and expand as a plant grows, according to its nature This idea he had an opportunity to carry out, when, in 1817, he opened a gehool at Griesheim, in Thuringia, which he soon transferred to Keilhau. He wrote a work explaining his views, and, with the object of extending his system, started several branch-schools and began to train teachers. In 1836 Froebel opened at Blank-

enburg, not far from Keilhau, his first kindergarten, a system of teaching children which has since become popular in all circles of education. The remainder of his life was spent in working out this new system. Froebel has exerted a great influence on education in this country, perhaps greater than either Pestalozzi or Her-bart. His principal work is The Education of Man, translated by Josephine Jarvis. He died on June 21, 1852. For kindergarten see SCHOOL; MODERN EDUCATION; CHILD-STUDY; SELF-ACTIVITY; GAMES.

Frog, a common, tailless amphibian, with webbed feet, and hind legs adapted for leaping ; hatching as a tadpole and passing from

STAGES IN THE  LIFE-HISTORY    OF   THE  FROG

a water-breather to an air-breather. The frog belongs to the same group with toads, salamanders etc. Its life-history is very interesting, because it represents that phase of animal life through which the race of higher animals must have passed in changing from water-animals to land-animals. There is good reason to believe that animal-life began with aquatic animals and that the terrestrial animals sprang from them. As is well known to embryologists, all the higher animals pass through a stage, in the egg, in which they have rudimentary gill-slits and gill-arches, with blood vessels arranged on the fish-like pattern. (See DEVELOPMENT.) The frogs hatch at the level of a fish, and, while leading an independent life, they pass through the stages that higher animals pass before birth. Frogs and toads are much alike; in the