[RCL]

Thoreau's name at birth was David Henry Thoreau.

Thoreau & Bullfrogs (As Seen by a Local Farmer)

"'Henry D. Thoreau -- Henry D. Thoreau,' jerking out the words with withering contempt. 'His name ain't no more Henry D. Thoreau than my name is Henry D. Thoreau. And everybody knows it, and he knows it. His name's Da-a-vid Henry and it ain't never been nothing but Da-a-vid Henry. And he knows that! Why one morning I went out in my field across there to the river, and there, beside that little old mud pond, was standing Da-a-vid Henry, and he wasn't doin' nothin' but just standin' there -- lookin' at that pond, and when I came back at noon, there he was standin' with his hands behind him just lookin' down into that pond, and after dinner when I come back again if there wan't Da-a-vid standin' there just like as if he had been there all day, gazin' down into that pond, and I stopped and looked at him and I says, "Da-a-vid Henry, what air you a-doin'?" And he didn't turn his head and he didn't look at me. He kept on lookin' down at that pond, and he said, as if he was thinkin' about the stars in the heavens, "Mr. Murray, I'm a-studyin' -- the habits -- of the bullfrog!" And there that darned fool had been standin' -- the livelong day -- a-studyin' -- the habits -- of the bull-frog!'"

Quoted in Walter Harding, Thoreau as Seen by His Contemporaries.