I-^O OMKXSKTTKR 



The common field crickets are frequently noisy at night. 

 According to Scudder the note is a shrill one, and is said to 

 be pitched at f natural, two octaves above middle c. Its 

 nearest approach to Knglish has been placed as 



Crrri, crrri, crrri. crrri, crrri. 



Probably the most prevalent night song is that of the 

 snowy tree cricket. Riley penned a good description when 

 he said that it "is intermittent, resembling a shrill 



Re-leat, re-teat, re-teat, 



with a slight pause between each." The recluse of Walden 

 termed it " slumbrous breathing," while Hawthorne describes 

 it as "audible stillness," and remarks that "if moonlight 

 could be heard it would sound like that." Perhaps he 

 fancied Luna's beams on Taj Mahal. 



The instrument upon which the male cricket plays is com- 

 prised of strong nervures or rough strings in the wing cases, 

 by the friction of which against each other a sound is pro- 

 duced and communicated to the membranes stretched between 

 them, in the same way that the vibrations caused by the fric- 

 tion of the finger upon the tambourine are spread over the 

 surface. 



" Sounds," it is well observed by the natural historian of 

 Selborne, " do not always give us pleasure according to their 

 sweetness and melody ; nor do harsh sounds always displease. 

 Thus the shrilling of the field cricket, though sharp and strid- 

 ulous, yet marvellously delights some hearers, filling their 

 minds with a train of summer ideas of every thing that is 

 rural, verdurous and joyous." 



"Sounds inharmonious in themselves and harsh. 

 Vet heanl in scenes where peace for ever reigns. 

 And only there, please highly for their sake." 



— Cowper, "Task," Hook i. 



This circumstance, no doubt, caused the Si:)aniarcls to keep 



