Outdoor Visits  by Edith M. Patch

Young Frogs

Mother Leopard Frog laid dozens and hundreds and thousands of eggs.

Her eggs were all in one mass. The mass swelled in the water and then it looked like clear gelatin.

The eggs looked like little dark spots in the clear mass.

Mother Frog had a cold body and could not warm her eggs. The sun warmed them and the baby tadpoles hatched.

The tadpoles did not look like grown frogs. They had small mouths and large long flat tails.

At first the tadpoles had no legs. When they were old enough they had hind legs and after a while their front legs grew, too.

Don and Nan came to visit the tadpoles. They talked with Mr. Gray about them.

"Now, their mouths are large and their tails are small," said Nan.

Mr. Gray said, "Some time in the summer they will be changed to frogs. Then they will hunt in the grass.

"Some kinds of frogs stay in the water all summer. Leopard Frogs hunt for grasshoppers to eat.

"But every spring they live in the water for a while."

"And sing in a chorus!" said Don.