Songs of the Fields 



to her kin their medium of self-expression, that 

 would ha^'e entitled Katy to the immortality she 

 has earned. 



"Katy did!" triumjjhs one of her admirers, as 

 if it were a fact just discovered. 



"Katy did it!" emphasizes another worshix^er. 



"Katy did! " corrohorates a friend in the next 

 bush. 



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

 ance; and the manner in which these exquisite in- 

 sects can emphasize their notes is marvelous. Xot 

 a bird of ornitholooy can speak plainer, better- 

 accented English than they, not even the whip- 

 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, buzzers, and hummers. 



The remarkable thing about it is that the 

 speech is made by the contact of the glassy plates How 

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

 manner as the grasshopper produces his strident 

 buzz. Because the fields seem to be the true home 

 of the katj'-did does not prevent 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. INIost of their music 

 is made in August and September, when they are 

 matured, mating, and depositing their eggs. 



No insect of their species is so beautiful as 

 221 



