THE HOUSE CRICKET. 277 



when it became dusk, out of the windows, and 

 over the neighbouring roofs. This feat of acti- 

 vity accounts for the sudden manner in which they 

 often leave their haunts, as it does also for the me- 

 thod by which they come to houses where they were 

 not known before. It is remarkable that many 

 sorts of insects seem never to use their wings but 

 when they wish to shift their quarters and settle 

 new colonies. — When in the air they move in waves 

 or curves, like wood-peckers, opening and shutting 

 their wings at every stroke, and thus are always 

 rising or sinking. — When they increase to a great 

 degree, they become pests, flying into the candles, 

 and dashing into people's faces ; but they may be 

 blasted by gun-powder discharged into their crevices 

 and crannies. In families, at such times they are, 

 like Pharaoh's plague of frogs, — " in their bed-cham- 

 " bers, and upon their beds, and in their ovens, 

 " and in their kneading troughs." 



" Cats catch hearth-crickets, and, playing with 

 them, as they do with mice, devour them. Crickets 

 may be destroyed like wasps, by phials half filled 

 with beer, or any liquid, and set in their haunts ; for, 

 being always eager to drink, they will crowd in till 

 the bottles are full.*" A popular prejudice, how- 

 ever, frequently prevents any attempts at their de- 

 struction, many people imagining that their presence 

 is attended with good luck, and that to kill or drive 

 them away will surely bring some unfortunate oc- 

 currence on the family. 



* White's Natural History of Selborne. 



T; 



