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with a young Indian, and won it! This story, wonderful as it appears, is said to be true, and relates that a party of Swedes, in America-very cruel fellows I beg to addmade a wager with the Indian that, in a given distance, and allowing the Frog a start of two leaps, he would not overtake the animal before it reached a certain pond. The Swedes then burnt the poor Frog's tail, and, in all probability, pain and terror made it exert its utmost powers, and even added unwonted vigour to its limbs, to escape as quickly as possible out of reach of its tormentors. However that may have been, it is affirmed that the Frog reached the pond before its pursuer."

"And Indians are very fast runners, arn't they?" inquired Ned.

"Some of them are said to be able to run as fast as a wild horse," replied Frank; "but that is, no doubt, only for a short distance-even if they are able to do it at all. But I've got something more to tell you about Frogs. I've told you about a toad that did not know how to swim; and now I'll tell you about a Frog that lives, for the most part of its life, on the branches of trees. He is called the Tree-Frog on that account. He is a very little fellow, the smallest of the Frog family, but by no means the least interesting, and, in some respects, far the bestlooking. In colour, he is a bright green on the upper, and whitish on the lower, part of him, a dark violet streak separating the colours. He has a little, plump, square body, very long legs, and the bright eyes of his race. is a great pity that he is not acclimatized in England, for he makes a most amusing pet, and he is found plentifully in France and other countries of Europe. His feet are beautifully adapted to the life he leads; for on the tips of

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all his toes there are little sucker-like, moist knobs, which enable him to hang on to the under side of a leaf with perfect security in his search after insect food. Tiny as these creatures are, their croaking in the spring-time has been likened to the cry of a pack of hounds; for whenever one begins to croak, the whole of his neighbours join in chorus; and on a quiet evening the voices of a harmonious party have been heard at the distance of three miles. Although they pass most of their time amongst the leaves of trees, they cannot live without a considerable quantity of moisture; and, towards the end of autumn, they retire to some stagnant pool, and lie there, at the bottom, in a torpid state, through the winter. All the Frog tribe have a wonderful power of absorbing moisture through their skin; and it was observed of a pair of TreeFrogs, which were kept as pets, that whenever they descended to the floor in hot weather they became lank and attenuated, and that when a few drops of water were spilt for them they immediately placed themselves close to the moisture and absorbed it, the result being always that they soon recovered their ordinary plumpness. Other experiments proved that a Tree-Frog can absorb through its skin nearly its own weight of water. Mr. Buckland, in his charming 'Curiosities of Natural History,' tells a droll story of a night journey which he took in a diligence, with a dozen Tree-Frogs shut up in a bottle. His fellow-passengers were sleepy old Germans; and very soon after the journey was commenced the whole party had stowed themselves into their corners and began to snore. Just as the dawn was beginning to break, the travellers started into sudden wakefulness, and stared at each other with sleepy looks of alarm and anger. The

Frogs, though shut up in a bottle and put into the dark pocket of the vehicle, had found out that day was breaking, and had raised their voices in salutation of the dawn. Their united voices were stunning, and the angry Germans wanted to have the bottle and its uproarious contents pitched out of window; but Mr. Buckland preserved his prizes by keeping close watch over the bottle, and giving it a good shake whenever any of its occupants gave the least sign of raising its voice. The fate of these Frogs was not happy, however; for though they safely reached their destination, at Oxford, they were all lost the day after their arrival, through the stupidity of an inquisitive housemaid, who took the top of the bottle off to see what it contained, and then was afraid to put it on again, because one of the Frogs had uttered a croak of thanksgiving. The whole party made their escape into the garden and were eaten by ducks, Mr. Buckland believed, for he never heard or saw any of them again. Another curious fact he mentions in relation to these little green Tree-Frogs, which is, that in Germany they are very frequently used as barometers. They are kept in tall bottles, with little wooden ladders for them to mount: in fine weather the Frogs approach the top, on the coming of bad weather they descend."

"If ever I go to France," cried Bob, "I'll bring back some Tree-Frogs."

"If ever you go to France," cried Frank, with a laugh, "I hope you won't forget your present good intention. Can't you make a knot in your nose to remind you ? There's another thing you are more likely to do, perhaps, if you go to France-which is, to have a dish of cooked Frogs."

THE FROG AS AN ARTICLE OF FOOD.

Ough! not if I know it!" cried Bob.

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"Very well; I won't force you, because I'm not that way inclined myself," said Frank; "but a good many people in a good many parts of the world think Frogsor rather the hind quarters of Frogs-very good eating, and eat 'em accordingly. In the markets of Paris they are constantly exposed for sale. Very good imitation of whitebait is a dish of cooked Frogs, says Mr. Buckland. Great numbers are eaten in Vienna, to which good city they are brought from the country, thirty or forty thousand at a time, consigned to dealers who have regular conservatories prepared for their reception and preservation in proper condition. In North America the big Bull-Frog is served at table and considered to be good eating, though some dainty people have said that his flesh is stringy and tough."

The expression of both Bob and Ned's faces showed plainly that, to their minds, as an article of food, one Frog was as objectionable as another. But the subject was suddenly changed by Charley snatching up a large clod of earth and throwing it at something which had caught his sight on the hedge-bank, which ended abruptly in the little pool by which we were standing.

"A Rat!" cried Bob, rushing wildly here and there to find something to throw at the unoffending object, which maintained a provoking aspect of serene unconcern, in spite of the shower of missiles launched against it.

CHAPTER VI.

WE PELT A WATER-RAT, SCARE A NEWT, AND NED CAPTURES A BUTTERFLY.

"DON'T hit him," said Frank; "this is a curious habit of his, to sit and suffer himself to be pelted. He has more than once been known to keep his place undisturbed by repeated pistol-shots, even when the balls have whistled close by his head and buried themselves in the earth behind him. No one has yet been able to give more than a vague guess as to the cause of this strange behaviour, so unlike that of any other wild animal."

"Then, the more you pelt him, the more he won't budge?" cried Bob, in a state of delighted excitement. "How jolly!"

"Not exactly that," said Frank, laughing; "but you'll see that when he does go into the water, it won't be because he's driven, but because he pleases."

At the moment Frank spoke, which was during a pause in the bombardment, the animal, apparently with the utmost sang froid, dived into the pool and went to the bottom, as we could see by the mud which he displaced as he moved along.

"I never saw a Water-Rat before," said Charley.

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'Well, properly speaking, you can't be said to have seen one now," replied Frank; "because the animal which has just gone out of sight is really not a Rat at all, but a Water

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