82 Shadowings 



cicadae. It is not the finest singer among them ; 

 but even as a melodist it ranks second only to 

 the tsuku-tsuhu-bosbi. It is the special minstrel 

 of twilight, singing only at dawn and sunset; 

 whereas most of the other semi make their music 

 only in the full blaze of day, pausing even when 

 rain -clouds obscure the sun. In Tokyo the 

 bigurasbi usually appears about the end of June, 

 or the beginning of July. Its wonderful cry, 

 kana-kana-kana-kana-kana, beginning al- 

 ways in a very high clear key, and slowly 

 descending, is almost exactly like the sound of 

 a good hand-bell, very quickly rung. It is not a 

 clashing sound, as of violent ringing ; it is quick, 

 steady, and of surprising sonority. I believe that 

 a single bigurasbi can be plainly heard a quarter 

 of a mile away ; yet, as the old Japanese poet 

 Yayu observed, " no matter how many bigurasbi 

 be singing together, we never find them noisy." 

 Though powerful and penetrating as a resonance 

 of metal, the bigurasbi's call is musical even to 

 the degree of sweetness ; and there is a peculiar 

 melancholy in it that accords with the hour of 

 gloaming. But the most astonishing fact in re- 

 gard to the cry of the bigurasbi is the individual 

 quality characterizing the note of each insect. 



