See quot. 1705.

1

1705.  In the Swamps and running Streams, they have Frogs of an incredible bigness, which are call’d Bull-frogs, from the roaring they make.—Beverley, ‘Virginia,’ iv. 63.

2

1738.  The bull-frog is mentioned in Mortimer’s ‘Nat Hist of Carolina.’ (N.E.D.)

3

1781.  The bull-frogs were the leaders, and the pipers followed without number.—Samuel Peters, ‘History of Connecticut,’ p. 152 (Lond.).

4

1789.  

                    In marsh or stagnant pool
No more the bull-frog hoarse is heard—nor from
The grove the turtle coos her song of love.
From A Winter-piece, by a Marylander, American Museum, vi. 484.    

5

1792.  The Bull Frog, Rana boans, is mentioned by Jeremy Belknap, ‘New Hampshire,’ iii. 174.

6

1797.  The deep-toned bullfrog, and the still more deeply thundering alligator, returned their [the current’s] hollow sounds in many a hideous and dismal howl.—Fra. Baily, F.R.S., ‘Journal of a Tour,’ p. 297 (Lond., 1856).

7

1801.  

        Should ’Retta poor Phelim forsake,
  The world into mourning would go;
And bullfrogs would grunt at his fate,
  And mud turtles pine at his woe.
Spirit of the Farmers’ Museum, p. 77: from the Mass. Spy.    

8

1803.  

        Such noise as once was heard at Windham town,
When bull-frogs, in their march, put all to flight,
And threaten’d revolution to the world.
The Balance, Aug. 30 (p. 280/2), ‘The Post-man’s Soliloquy.’    

9

1804.  Bull Frogs.—The highest price will be given for well grown fresh Bull Frogs. Apply at Mr. Pierce’s Bar-Room.—Easton, May 8, 1804.—Id., June 5, p. 179/2: from a Maryland paper.

10

1806.  As night advanced, the noise of vermin, reptiles, and insects was so great, particularly the clamour of the great bull-frog, that I felt very little disposition to lie down, though the labour of the day had considerably fatigued me.—Thomas Ashe, ‘Travels in America,’ ii. 220 (Lond., 1808).

11

1807.  [Mr. Jefferson] secured the lead Mines, the Salt Mountain,… Huge Tadpoles, Dogs Prairie, and horned Bull Frogs.—The Repertory (Boston), Feb. 8.

12

1827.  The bull-frog is numerous every where: a stranger would imagine, that he often strained his lungs, to imitate the voice of the lordly alligator.—John L. Williams, ‘View of West Florida,’ p. 29 (Phila.).

13

1833.  There ’s a powerful chance of the biggest bull-frogs you ever see, down in the slash yander.—James Hall, ‘The Harpe’s Head,’ p. 152 (Phila.).

14

1846.  

        ’T is wondrous fine, I calculate,
  To sit upon an oak;
And hear ten thousand bull-frogs join
  in one almighty croak!
Yale Lit. Mag., xi. 226 (April).    

15

1856.  

        And the melancholy bull-frog,
Brek-e-kex-co-ax, the bull-frog
On the river’s shiney margin,
Echoed, ‘Good-bye, Milgenwater.’
Id., xxi. 233 (April).    

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