Home › Volumes › Frogs › Toads
Fowler's Toad — Part 5
Bufo cognatus is peculiarly alert and active. When annoyed, it inflates the lungs, thus greatly increasing the size of the body, and lowers the head in a defensive attitude. It is incapable, however, of any defense beyond this, and stealthily creeps away, keeping the flattened body close to the ground.
A curious incident occurred when Bufo cognatus was being kept in captivity for study--an incident probably illustrative of the way in which stories have arisen regarding toads found in stones and buried in impossible places. A large fat specimen of Bufo cognatus escaped one morning from its moss-garden in a building in Rhode Island. That day repairs had been begun on a cement floor in the basement of the building. In the afternoon of the day, while workmen were continuing to remove the cement floor-which had been put down seven years before--they came upon a fat toad just fitting a burrow under the floor. Excitement followed, with many stories of toads found in similar situations where they had been for more than seven years. If the toad had not turned out to be the lost Bufo cognatus from Colorado, and had been a native of Rhode Island, there would have existed no proof that it had not been there seven years instead of a few hours.
Bufo compactilis bears, at first sight, a striking resemblance to the burrowing Spadefoot Toads. It is like Scaphiopus hammondii and Scaphiopus couchii in fact, in the shape and proportions of body and legs, the size and disposition of the warts, and in the unusual development of the foot for burrowing. The resemblance is only superficial, however, as the horizontal pupil tells us at once. Bufo compactilis is a true toad, closely related to Bufo cognatus.
This toad has strong instincts for hiding and burrowing. When kept in captivity in moss-gardens with other toads, it is always found under the moss and leaves, while the others may be on top. If it does happen to be out in search of food and an enemy approaches, it flattens and spreads itself on the ground until it looks like a circular pebbly surface elevated an inch or less.
The young toads, when examined closely, sometimes show a beautiful colouration. The soft grey-brown of the background is enlivened by the bright red tips of the warts, and enriched by a few black spots and many irregularly placed moss-green patches.
The eye is bright and intelligent looking, and indicates the alertness and activity which make this toad no exception in its group.
When annoyed, it gives repeatedly a note that has somewhat the quality of the quack of a duck. But its musical powers do not stop here, as we would know if we examined the throat region. There is a wrinkled sac at the middle point of the throat, on a line with the angles of the jaws. It consists of fold upon fold of thin skin, confined to a spot of not more than one-half inch in diameter. These folds are released one after another as the sac is inflated until there is produced a large blind tube looking like the bladder of a fish. The toad may sit very erect while singing, and the bladder extends forward and upward to a considerable distance above the head. The call is very loud and penetrating, and is harsh in quality. The calls are repeated continually, about one per second, with a short pause between each two. The bladder remains inflated during the calling but decreases somewhat in size between the notes. The pitch in the specimens observed was about two octaves above middle C (D). The notes were kept at this pitch for some minutes, when suddenly there would be a distinct drop, followed almost immediately by a sudden rise again to the original pitch.
The life history and habits of Bufo compactilis are not on record.