ed the subject of the first
article in this series, wherein it was pointed out that the eggs were
laid in huge masses and left to hatch. Beyond seeking out a suitable
place for the eggs, no further trouble is taken by the frog, and it is
on this account that so many hundreds have to be laid. There must be
enough to be eaten by prowling ducks, and enough to hatch into tadpoles,
of which, again, there must be enough to be eaten by hungry animals of
all sorts, and enough to grow safely into frogs.

This waste of life is, however, avoided when the parents take charge of
their eggs, and, in consequence, there is no need to provide so many.

Let us begin with an example or two of nest-building frogs. One of the
simplest of these nests is that of a South American frog known as the
Ferreiro, or 'Smith,' from the remarkable call which it makes during the
spring--a call resembling the sounds made on a smith's anvil. Its nest
is made by the little mother of the family alone, who, from the bottom
of some shallow pool, scoops out a little basin, using the displaced mud
to form a wall or rampart, some four inches high, round the pit, and
employing her hands to smooth the inside of the wall, much as a mason
uses a trowel. After the nest is ready, she lays therein a few eggs, and
then retires with her mate to some secluded spot to watch over her
treasures!

Another little group of South American frogs--the 'Phyllomedusa'
frogs--lay their eggs to the number of about a hundred, in 'pockets'
formed by bringing the edges of a leaf together. Into this 'pocket' the
eggs are dropped by the mother; the jelly-like coat with which the eggs
are covered serves to hold the pocket together.

Some frogs build 'foam' nests. Thus, a little frog that lives in the
West Indies glues her eggs on to a broad leaf, and covers them in a mass
of foam. Similarly, the 'banana-frog' of Malacca lays its eggs in a
leaf, and surrounds them with a mass of yellow froth (which afterwards
becomes steel-grey) as large as a cricket-ball. Herein the eggs develop,
until at last the tadpoles emerge and drop into the water below, as in
the case of the other frogs who attach their eggs to leaves. A Japanese
frog, closely related to the species just described, lays its eggs in a
hole in the ground, and then covers them with a mass of froth and
air-bubbles formed by working up a sticky slime with its feet until this
mass, too, is as large as a cricket-ball!

But many frogs c