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The bird builds her nest as soon as she feels the eggs coming to maturity within her. Snails, land-crabs, tree-frogs, and toads, all of them ordinarily dwellers upon land, now betake themselves to the water; sea-tortoises go on shore, and many saltwater fishes come up into the rivers in order to lay their eggs where they can alone find the requisites for their development.
In the South American tree-frogs of the genus Nototrema the eggs are developed in a dorsal pouch of the skin of the female, and within this pouch the respiration of the embryo is carried on by a membranous expansion of the second and third external gills on each side.
As they were pushing their way through a thicket of shrubs, before reaching the open space where the Satin Birds' bower was built, they heard an increasing noise of birds all talking to one another. The din of this chattering was enhanced considerably by the shrill sounds of tree-frogs and crickets, and the hubbub made Dot feel like the little Native Bear as if her "head was empty."
Ramsay had other occupations: he rode, he fished, he cleaned his guns, he got over leagues and leagues of ground, he killed several snakes and captured scores of insects. He caught dozens of tree-frogs, for one thing, and shut them all up together in the drawing-room coal-scuttle, where he peeped at them from time to time, well satisfied.
This seemed to give a new stimulus to animal life. On the first night there was a tremendous uproar tree-frogs, crickets, goat-suckers, and owls all joining to perform a deafening concert. One kind of goat- sucker kept repeating at intervals throughout the night a phrase similar to the Portuguese words, "Joao corta pao," "John, cut wood" a phrase which forms the Brazilian name of the bird.
In a few minutes every living creature in and about the place was fast asleep, excepting some tree-frogs and katydids outside, who seemed to have made up their minds to stay up all night. The next morning, Harry was up quite early, and after having eaten a very plain breakfast, which Aunt Judy prepared for him, he ran down to the creek to see what chance there was for business.
One season I was interested in the tree-frogs, especially the tiny piper that one hears about the woods and brushy fields, the hyla of the swamps become a denizen of the trees; I had never seen him in this new role. But this season, having hylas in mind, or rather being ripe for them, I several times came across them. One Sunday, walking amid some bushes, I captured two.
I might possibly have slumbered on till the sun was high in the sky, but I was awakened, ere the light of early dawn had penetrated amid the thick foliage which surrounded us, by a strange concert of sounds. Monkeys were jabbering overhead; tree-frogs were quacking; parrots were chattering and macaws were screeching more loudly than all, as they flew over the topmost boughs.
They clasped hands long and in silence. Then Peter turned with a gulp, and, his weakness a thing of the past, went striding up the driveway. But Aladdin sat down to wait. And now a great piping of tree-frogs arose in all that country. Aladdin waited for a long time. He waited until the day gave way to twilight and the sun went down.
Sometimes the whole forest appeared to be alive with voices the voices of beasts and birds, reptiles, and insects for the tree-frogs and ciendas were as noisy as the larger creatures.
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