American Toad — Part 5

Bufo americanus Le Conte

Just as soon as they lose the tails, toads are likely to leave the pond (This happens generally between the middle of June and the middle of July, according to the advancement of the season. For the enemies of the toad tadpoles in the pond, see "Leopard Frog,")--a whole army of atoms of life, so small and so like the ground that if their numbers were few we should scarcely see one of them, or if we did, might think the little hopping thing merely a cricket. But sometimes the day of their final transformation coincides with the day of a gentle rain. A happy coincidence it seems for them, but it is likely to prove rather tragic instead. They cover the sidewalks and the roadways; and before each individual of the migrating multitude finds a sheltered corner he can call home, many hundreds have lost their lives under the wheels of carriages and the feet of hurrying pedestrians. The same apparent "deluge" of toads may come if a warm rain occurs shortly after the time of their change to land animals. They are so delicate at first, so used to life in the water, that they travel only when the air is moist. This means that they will leave their native pond at night, and that until they are less sensitive must remain secreted during the daytime under stones and chips, in the cracks of board-walks or under the protecting cover of leaves and grasses. But let a rainfall come before they are too widely scattered or their ranks too greatly thinned, and--truly it seems as if the toads must have rained down! For the great warm drops splash down on the boards, and see, there are baby toads just where the raindrops struck.

The wet margin of river and pond in early July may be alive with baby toads. When the toads have been out of water for a few days they are found farther back in the grass. They congregate in large numbers on sunny brown earth patches. These they match so well in colour, that, as we approach, their simultaneous hopping into the shelter of the grass gives the illusion that the whole patch of earth is moving.