Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/460

432 has led me to suppose that it lacks the disagreeable smell which is sometimes so apparent in presence of the Common Snake (C. natrix), but I know on this particular point opinions differ.— (Ringwood, Hants).

Enemies of the Toad.—An instance of a Weasel having been seen carrying a Toad in its mouth was recorded in the 'Field' a short time since by Mr. E. Stanford, Honiton, Devonshire. I cannot unfortunately recollect the exact date of its appearance, but believe it to have been about a year ago, more or less. I have myself seen a tame Hedgehog devour a Toad which was more than half grown. Doubtless there are very few mammals, and not many birds, which ever make a meal of a full-grown Toad. The Common Buzzard, however, is known to do so, and in the spring Rats make great havoc among Frogs and Toads alike in the marsh ditches. The vast armies of young Toads which, after completing their change from the tadpole state, leave the water and spread abroad over the face of the country, are beset by many dangers. Numbers are no doubt crushed by wheels and the hoofs of horses and cattle, while others fall a prey to rats, fowls, ducks, &c. I once saw a cock calling his hens together to partake of some choice morsel he held in his beak. This he afterwards dropped, and on picking it up it turned out to be a small Toad. A Corncrake caught by a dog near Orford, Suffolk, in August, 1887, when taken in the hand, disgorged a very young Toad, and immediately afterwards a Frog of much larger size.— (Blaxhall, Suffolk).

[Mr. J.H. Gurney (Zool. 1883, p. 303) states that Common Snakes prey chiefly on Toads, which he had found to form the most frequent contents of their stomachs.—]

Stridulation of Cicadidæ and Orthoptera.—In the Editor's excellent and interesting "Zoological Rambles" (p. 159) the following passage occurs:—"Protective resemblance can scarcely be a factor in the insect's existence when by its piercing notes it proclaims the place of its concealment. In collecting I was usually apprised of their whereabouts by their stridulating music." I should like to ask if this is the experience of observers generally. I have many times listened to the highly-pitched sounds emitted by Cicadas, Grasshoppers, Crickets, &c, in Africa and South America, and have often searched for a considerable time without being able to discover the whereabouts of the insects. In my experience a highly-pitched shrill sound, even when very loud, is most difficult to localize exactly, and I say this with the sounds uttered or made by both birds and insects in my mind. I remember one evening, when I was in Uruguay, an intensely loud and highly pitched or shrill Grasshopper's trill suddenly began in the room.