Friday, April 11, 2014

Evening on river, full moon – the snoring of frogs on the bared meadows.

April 11. 

Surveying in Lincoln.  
Large ant-hills 
in the woods –
but no ants. 

Pickerel Frog (Rana [Lithobates] palustris)
Evening on river. 
Fine full moon –
river smooth. 

Hear a slight snoring of frogs on the bared meadows. Is it not the R. palustrisThis the first moon to walk by.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, April 11, 1854



Evening on river. Fine full moon
 
See May 8, 1857 ("The full moon rises, and I paddle by its light. It is an evening for the soft-snoring, purring frogs") 

Hear a slight snoring of frogs on the bared meadows. See April 3, 1858 ("It remains now to detect the note of the palustris.");  
April 10, 1856 ("I see three or four frogs jump in, some probably large Rana palustris, others quite small."); April 17, 1855 ("The general stirring of frogs. To-day I see a Rana palustris — I think the first . . . I suspect that those first seen in Hubbard’s Close were the little croakers."); April 17, 1860 ("The meadows are alive with purring frogs."); April 30, 1858 ('It is somewhat more softly purring, with frequently a low quivering, chuckling, or inquisitive croak . . . I suspect it is the R. palustris, now breeding."); May 2, 1859 ("I heard yesterday, and perhaps for several days, the soft purring sound of what I take to be the Rana palustris, breeding, though I did not this time see the frog.") May 3, 1857 ("I hear the soft, purring, stertorous croak of frogs on the meadow. "); May 6, 1858 ("There was a universal snoring of the R. palustris all up and down the river on each side. . .Each shore of the river now for its whole length is all alive with this stertorous purring. It is such a sound as I make in my throat when I imitate the growling of wild animals. I have heard a little of it at intervals for a week, in the warmest days, but now at night it [is] universal all along the river. . . .Yet how few distinguished this sound at all, and I know not one who can tell what frog makes it, though it is almost as universal as the breeze itself. "); May 8, 1857 ("It is an evening for the soft-snoring, purring frogs (which I suspect to be Rana palustris).") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Pickerel frog (Rana palustris ) and A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The first frogs to begin calling

[Pickerel Frogs call in Vermont from mid-April to mid-June, most commonly in the latter half of May. The Pickerel Frog’s call is described as a short snore. ~ Frogs of Vermont]

The first moon to walk by. 
See April 3, 1852 ("The moon appears to be full to-night. About 8.30 P. M. I walked to the Clamshell Hill. It is very cold and windy, and I miss my gloves, left at home. Colder than the last moon . . . I came out mainly to see the light of the moon reflected from the meadowy flood. It is a pathway of light, of sheeny ripples, extending across the meadow toward the moon, consisting of a myriad little bent and broken moons.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, April Moonlight

Evening on river
full moon – the snoring of frogs 
on the bared meadows.

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau
 "A book, each page written in its own season,
out-of-doors, in its own locality."
 ~edited, assembled and rewritten by zphx ©  2009-2024
tinyurl.com/hdt-540411





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