A Question from Peebles A queer query in natural history
comes from Peebles, on a subject that has been recently producing some discussion. In clearing away an old sparrows' nest the gardener disclosed a well-conditioned toad which audibly protested against the disturbance. The nest was at the open expanded part of a pipe leading from the ground below. This pipe is about 25 feet high and ascends vertically from under the soil in the crevice made by two walls at right-angles. How did the toad get there ? One finds toads in the most astonishing places. I have found them, for example, in a cellar from which escape seemed impossible and entrance most difficult. They appear in town gardens wholly surrounded by tall brick walls. There are tree-frogs whose gymnastics are sur- prising enough. Why not pipe and wall-climbing toads ? Incidentally, it is a common rural superstition that both toads and frogs on occasion fall down in showers of rain ; and, indeed, the sudden appearance of great numbers of the young is often very difficult to explain.
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