frog and
the five-lined skink largely coincide. In an account of the five-lined
skink on the Reservation, I have described several study areas in some
detail (Fitch, 1954: 37-41). It was on these same study areas (Quarry,
Skink Woods, Rat Woods) that most of the frogs were obtained.

Although _G. olivacea_ thrives in an open-woodland habitat in this part
of its range, it seems to be essentially a grassland species, and it
occurs throughout approximately the southern half of the Great Plains
region. Bragg (1943: 76) emphasized that in Oklahoma it is widely
distributed over the state, occupying a variety of habitats, with little
ecological restriction. Bragg noted, however, that the species is
rarely, if ever, found on extensive river flood plains. On various
occasions I have heard _Gastrophryne_ choruses in a slough two miles
south of the Reservation. This slough is in the Kaw River flood plain
and is two miles from the bluffs where the habitat of rocky wooded
slopes begins that has been considered typical of the species in
northeastern Kansas. It seems that the frogs using this slough are not
drawn from the populations living on the bluffs as Mud Creek, a Kaw
River tributary, intervenes. The creek channel at times of heavy
rainfall, carries a torrent of swirling water which might present a
barrier to migrating frogs as they are not strong swimmers. The frogs
could easily find suitable breeding places much nearer to the bluffs.
Those using the slough are almost certainly permanent inhabitants of the
river flood plain. The area in the neighborhood of the slough, where the
frogs probably live, include fields of alfalfa and other cultivated
crops, weedy fallow fields, and the marshy margins of the slough. In
these situations burrows of rodents, notably those of the pocket gopher
(_Geomys bursarius_), would provide subterranean shelter for the frogs,
which are not efficient diggers.

The frogs may live in many situations such as this where they have been
overlooked. In the absence of flat rocks providing hiding places at the
soil surface, the frogs would rarely be found by a collector. The volume
and carrying quality of the voice are much less than in other common
anurans. Large breeding choruses might be overlooked unless the observer
happened to come within a few yards of them. Most of the recorded
habitats and localities of occurrence may be those where the frog
happens to be most in evidence to human observers, rather