Songs of the Fields 



to her kin their niediiini of self-expression, that 

 would have entitled Katy to the immortality she 

 has earned. 



"Katy did!" triunn)hs one of her admirers, as 

 if it were a fact just discovered. 



"Katy did it!" emphasizes another worshiper. 



"Katy did!" corroborates a friend in the next 

 bush. 



"Katy did it!" iterates the first, with all assur- 

 ance; and the manner in M'hich these exquisite in- 

 sects can emi)hasize their notes is marvelous. Not 

 a bird of ornithology can speak plainer, better- 

 accented English than they, not even the M-hip- 

 poor-A\ill ; and no insects can approach them. 

 Compared with their clean-cut, distinctly enunci- 

 ated syllables, all the remainder of their insect rel- 

 atives are mere scrapers, buz/ers, and hummers. 



The remarkable thing a])out it is that the 

 speech is made by the contact of the glassy plates How 

 at the base of the Avings, and in much the same Katy did it 

 manner as the grasshop])er ])roduces his strident 

 buzz. Because the fields seem to be the true home 

 of the katy-did does not jirevent the family from 

 scattering widely. There are a few in the forest, 

 many in the marshes, and from the fields they 

 come close country homes. INfost of their music 

 is made in August and Se])tember, when they are 

 matured, mating, and depositing their eggs. 



No insect of their species is so beautiful as 

 221 



