THE ITALIAN CRICKET 131 



October, commences at sunset and continues for the 

 greater part of the night. 



This song is famihar to all Provenpals ; for the least 

 patch of thicket or tuft of grasses has its group of instru- 

 mentalists. It resounds even in the granaries, into which 

 the insect strays, attracted thither by the fodder. But no 

 one, so mysterious are the manners of the pallid Cricket, 

 knows exactly what is the source of the serenade, which 

 is often, though quite erroneously, attributed to the 

 common field-cricket, which at this period is silent and 

 as yet quite young. 



The song consists of a Gri-i-if Gri-i-i, a slow, gentle 

 note, rendered more expressive by a slight tremor. 

 Hearing it, one divines the extreme tenuity and the ampli- 

 tude of the vibrating membranes. If the insect is not 

 in any way disturbed as it sits in the low foliage, the 

 note does not vary, but at the least noise the performer 

 becomes a ventriloquist. First of all you hear it there, 

 close by, in front of you, and the next moment you hear 

 it over there, twenty yards away ; the double note 

 decreased in volume by the distance. 



You go forward. Nothing is there. The sound pro- 

 ceeds again from its original point. But no — it is not 

 there ; it is to the left now — unless it is to the right — or 

 behind. . . . Complete confusion ! It is impossible to 

 detect, by means of the ear, the direction from which the 

 chirp really comes. Much patience and many precau- 

 tions will be required before you can capture the insect 

 by the light of the lantern. A few specimens caught 

 under these conditions and placed in a cage have taught 

 me the little I know concerning the musician who so 

 perfectly deceives our ears. 



