Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 3 (1899).djvu/122

98 with them appears to be far less complete; indeed, it is not very unusual to find them moving about well into November. In the year 1888, I saw a young Toad of the previous year climbing about among long grass and other herbage as late in the season as Dec. 3rd. Another on the same day, found secreted under a large stone, was quite brisk and lively. On Feb. 9th, 1891, a large female was turned out by the spade at a depth of about four inches, from ground which had been well dug during the previous winter, and was consequently in a comparatively loose state. This Toad sprawled feebly with all its limbs, at the same time alternatively opening and shutting its eyes. Three weeks or a month later it would probably have emerged and been making for water.

—Though the breeding season of B. vulgaris is rather later than that of R. temporaria, the former is to be seen abroad almost as early in the year as the latter. Toads have farther to travel to their breeding places than Frogs, as their winter quarters are often far removed from water. Males are often met with on their accustomed spring journey quite at the beginning of March. There is always a marked preponderance of that sex at the commencement of the breeding season, and all the time the Toads remain in the water the males exceed the females in number, though not to the same extent as at first. The former are the first to awaken from their long winter's sleep. In the year 1882, I observed a male Toad making for water as early in the year as Feb. 26th, and in the following year noticed one close to a pond in which many breed on the 28th of the same month. In 1885 one was heard "chirping" or "piping" in the same pond on March 1st. In the years 1872, '84, and '93, I saw Toads in or near water during the first week in March; while in five other years (1886, '88, '89, '90, and '94) their first appearance abroad, or rather the occasion on which their presence was first detected, has been some time during the second or third week of that month. These dates can only, of course, be considered as approximately indicating the actual first appearance.

Toads usually remain in the water till the middle of April or even later; on one occasion (in 1884) I heard one in a ditch on