OF SELBORNE. 81 



As mole crickets often infest gardens by 

 the sides of canals, they are unwelcome 

 guests to the gardener, raising up ridges in 

 their subterraneous progress and rendering 

 the walks unsightly. If they take to the 

 kitchen quarters, they occasion great da- 

 mage among the plants and roots, by 

 destroying whole beds of cabbages, young- 

 legumes, and flowers. When dug out they 

 seem very slow and helpless, and make no 

 use of their wings by day ; but at night 

 they come abroad, and make long excur- 

 sions, as I have been convinced by finding 

 stragglers, in a morning, in improbable 

 places. In fine weather, about the middle 

 of April, and just at the close of day, they 

 begin to solace themselves with a low, dull, 

 jarring note, continued for a long time 

 without interruption, and not unlike the 

 chattering of the fern-owl, or goat-sucker, 

 but more inward. 



About the beginning of May they lay 

 their eggs, as I was once an eye witness ; 

 for a gardener at an house, where I was 

 on a visit, happening to be mowing, on the 

 VOL. ir. G 



