216 NATURE SKETCHES IN TEMPERATE AMERICA 



especially in the heat of the noon hours. Graber tells us these 

 shrill, piercing notes issue from a pair of organs situated on 

 the underside of the base of the abdomen of the male, these 

 acting somewhat as two kettle-drums, the membrane covering 

 the depressions being rapidly vibrated. 



The dog-day harvest-fly is surrounded by many enemies, 

 and perhaps the most active of these is the kingbird. On 

 several occasions I have seen this bird catch and devour 

 them. One day, in the last of July, I saw a kingbird that 

 could not swallow one after capturing it. It seized the cicada 

 and, taking it to a dead limb of a willow, tried its utmost 

 to swallow it, without being able to do so. This bird finally 

 carried the insect away in its mouth, probably to its young. 

 During my walks afield I have often found scattered about 

 the wings of the dog-day harvest-fly which had been torn by 

 some enemy, but whether this was the work of the kingbird 

 alone I never di.scovered. 



Herrick ' records ha\'ing seen one of these insects fed by 

 a cedar bird to its nestlings. He says: "The staple article 

 of food was grasshoppers and I have seen the large cicada or 

 harvest-fly brought to the nest, but never dragon-flies, butter- 

 flies, or moths. The cicada made a lively struggle for a few 

 minutes; it was j)laced in one ()])cn throat after another and 

 withdrawn eight different times before a gullet was found 

 capable of the j)roper reaction time." Again he says: " Exciting 

 scenes usually follow at the nest of the kingbird when a large 

 dragon-fly, cicada, or grampus is brought to the family circle. 

 The insect often struggles hard, l)ut escape is out of the (|uestion, 

 especially with both i)irds at the nest, who at once begin to 

 rend and crush it with their bills." 



One of the most formidable enemies of the cicada is the large 

 digger wasp, Sphecius spheciosua. It is commonly called the 

 cicada-killer, and makes its appearance about the time its 

 prey becomes common. The wasp sometimes springs ui)on 

 its victim while it is singing in the trees, and when it does so, 

 it generally paralyzes the cicada with one deadly stab of its 

 sting. Both insects then often drop to the ground. Soon 

 after, however, the wasp starts back, carrying its prey up the 



1 "Home Life of Wild Birds." 



