176 EAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. [Ch. XI. 



and can only be seen by a patient and, withal, fortunate 

 watcher. 



But there are two or three species of Cicada which are no 

 whit inferior in noisy powers to the insect just mentioned 

 (which I have been assured was a locust), though their notes 

 have a different character. One of these makes a simple 

 chirp, chirp, all night long, like our crickets. But there 

 are two others which I will designate respectively the 

 scissor-grinder and the saw-whetter. I shall never forget 

 the first time of hearing the scissor-grinder in the jungle at 

 Pappan when approaching the island in a boat, the noise 

 being distinctly audible for at least a quarter of an hour 

 before we reached the shore, and when there the resounding 

 whir-r-r — whir-r-r — whir-r-r of the insect awakening the 

 echoes of the forest was truly astonishing. After continuing 

 this deafening sound for some time, it winds up with a pro- 

 tracted whiz-z-z-z, which dies away just like the scissor- 

 grinder's wheel when the treddle stops. Another which I 

 heard at Coal-point closely resembled the whettiag of a 

 saw, but was not so common as the last; and a third 

 always began with a sort of warbling note, like a person 

 blowing in water with a bird-whistle, very loud and some- 

 what melodious withal. These siag all day, even during the 

 l^ottest hom's. 



The Cicadas are, however, very difficult to detect by the 

 sight. They often sing high up iu the trees, and I should 

 still be doubtful of the real nature of the songsters had I 

 not once or twice, when peering curiously up into the tree, 

 seen a Cicada quit its retreat and fly from among the leaves 

 simultaneously with the discontinuance of the sound. But 

 when in a bush near at hand, the ringing sound is of a 

 peculiarly deceptive and ventriloquous nature. The noise 



