FIELD-CRICKETS. 277 



they chirp all night as well as day, from the middle 

 of the month of May to the middle of July ; and, in 

 hot weather, when they are most vigorous, they make 

 the hills echo ; and, in the still hours of darkness, 

 may be heard to a considerable distance. In the 

 beginning of the season, their notes are more faint 

 and inward ; but become louder as the summer ad- 

 vances, and so die away again by degrees. 



Sounds do not always give us pleasure according 

 to their sweetness and melody ; nor do harsh sounds 

 always displease. We are more apt to be captivated 

 or disgusted with the associations which they pro- 

 mote, than with the notes themselves. Thus the 

 shrilling of the field- cricket, though sharp and stridu- 

 lous, yet marvellously delights some hearers, filling 

 their minds with a train of summer ideas of every 

 thing that is rural, verdurous, and joyous. 



About the 10th of March, the crickets appear at 

 the mouths of their cells, which they then open and 

 bore, and shape very elegantly. All that ever I have 

 seen at that season were in their pupa state, and 

 had only the rudiments of wings lying* under a skin, 

 or coat, which must be cast before the insect can 

 arrive at its perfect state * : from whence I should 

 suppose that the old ones of last year do not always 

 survive the winter. In August, their holes begin to 

 be obliterated, and the insects are seen no more till 

 spring. 



Not many summers ago, I endeavoured to trans- 

 plant a colony to the terrace in my garden, by 

 boring deep holes in the sloping turf. The new 

 inhabitants stayed some time, and fed and sung ; but 

 wandered away by degrees, and were heard at a far- 



* We have observed that they cast these skins in April, which 

 are then seen lying at the mouths of their holes. 



