Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 3 (1899).djvu/121



—Toads generally prefer a dry retreat in which to pass the winter. I have several times at that season found them buried in the dry soil at the top of a bank, under a thick thorn hedge. During the summer the shallow tunnels made by the Mole are often appropriated by these batrachians as diurnal retreats, and it seems not improbable that those holes which penetrate farther into the earth may sometimes be utilized as winter habitations. In like manner the burrows of our smaller rodents, those of the Bank Vole in particular, which run for a part of their course in a horizontal direction just beneath the surface-soil, are often tenanted by Toads; and one of these creatures may often be seen comfortably seated within, with its head towards the entrance.

In East Suffolk the period of hybernation appears to begin about the latter end of October, though an occasional individual may be seen moving about later. In the year 1892, near Stalham, in East Norfolk, I observed a full-grown Toad abroad on the 25th of October; and in 1888 a male was noticed hopping about here as late as the 29th of that month. As is the case with our Common Frog (Rana temporaria), the young remain active and lively up to a much later period than the adults, and hybernation Zool. 4th ser. vol. 111., March, 1899.