A MUSICAL INSTKUMENT. 173 



to the ground picks him to pieces, and, like a 

 dainty epicure, swallows only the choicest bits ; 

 the Louisiana tanager, flashing like a gem in the 

 golden sunshine, seizes on him and gobbles him 

 up bodily; crafty woodpeckers and stealthy 

 prying little flycatchers pounce upon him in the 

 midst of his song, and end his life ere yet it has 

 well begun. It shows us how wise is Creative 

 Wisdom in endowing these harmless little insects 

 with such vast powers of reproduction ! If one 

 female only succeeds in safely depositing her eggs, 

 at least seven hundred larvas are produced ; and 

 may it not be that, being voiceless, she is less likely 

 to be discovered than the male? 



The structure of the apparatus with which the 

 males execute their long-continued, shrill, monoto- 

 nous music is most singular, and well worth 

 investigation. It is a sort of compound instru- 

 ment, between a banjo and a violin, consisting of 

 two membranes tightly stretched, and acted on 

 by powerful muscles ; the sound issues from two 

 holes near the insertion of the hind-legs. The 

 intensity of the sound produced varies in differ- 

 ent species, dependant in a great measure on the 

 size of the instrument. One species, found in 

 Surinam, produces such ringing tones from his 

 musical apparatus, as to be distinctly heard at a 



