Impress the child with the knowledge that here is one of nature’s earliest signs of motion.
That the flowers could not move about to seek their mates, but the fishes, frogs and all higher forms of life do this, and are more particular as they ascend the scale of life.
Thus, the children were taught that the higher in the scale of development living creatures go, the greater care must be given them. Not only to the undeveloped seed within the mother’s body, but also to the egg after it has passed from her to the nest, for as creatures develop and ascend the scale, their eggs and offspring become fewer. And emphasis was laid on the care Mr. Frog took to fertilize the egg BEFORE it went into the water—one step higher than Mr. Fish.
There is no doubt that the words “cold-blooded,” as applied to frogs and toads, hit the mark, for there is not the slightest affection or sympathy shown or felt for their own kind. They give no care or concern to the eggs after they are deposited, and the “polly-wog” has to depend on himself.
Nature seems to have given them but one instinct relative to their kind, and that is the one blind impulse or instinct of reproduction.
Early in the summer months, the frog orchestra seems well tuned, but as the cold days come on the toads crawl into a hole, making it as they go, while the frogs go into the mud to sleep through the winter, out of reach of frost and snow, where they lie dormant until the spring air shall again inspire them with the joy of living.
Chapter IV.
The Birds and Their Families.
The next step to be taken was the study of the birds. Everywhere could be seen father and mother birds busy making their house for the babes, which were soon to come to live with them.
Great fun it was to hunt for nests and count the number each one discovered. First, right in Bobby’s yard was a young horse chestnut tree, and here in this tree Mr. and Mrs. Thrush had already built their nest, or house, and were even now waiting for the first egg to come.