82 Shadowings 



cicadas. It is not the finest singer among them ; 

 but even as a melodist it ranks second only to 

 the tsuku-tsuku-bosU. 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 

 bigurashi 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. 1 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 higurasbi 

 be singing together, we never find them noisy." 

 Though powerful and penetrating as a resonance 

 of metal, the MgurasU'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 higurasbi is the individual 

 quality characterizing the note of each insect. 



