S.A. NAT.. 
\ Oh \\ 111. Nt). I . 
Till. < OK A (UK'KI'rr. 
y. 
THE CHIRPING OF A CRICKET. 
By K. //. Ising. 
On the cvcninjT of 24tli March, 1936, I lieard a cricket 
cliirping on North Terrace at the north-east corner of the Bank 
of New South Wales building and by the Shell Co.^s right-of-way. 
On stopping to find the of the insect it was found that 
as stone I'tavement and bitumen surrounded the spot, the onl\' 
place where the creature could be was down a W aterworks 
grating on the corner of the stone footpath running along the 
east side of the building. On going closer I came to the con- 
clusion that the cricket was down this grating where there must 
have been sufficient soil and moisture for it to live and chirp. It 
is remarkable to find a cheery insect living in this restricted 
space and in inhospitable soil and yet able to carry on under 
these conditions. 
On another occasion 1 heard a cricket chirping further east 
along North Terrace and concluded that this Insect lived In the 
soil between the concrete slabs which form the footpath, and I 
heard it a number of times at the same place. 
THE ENGLISH SONG LARK, 
By E, II. I sing. 
I had a verv pleasant experience of the singing of an English 
song lark at Cold Links on 20th June, 1936. Vhe day was fine, 
there was bright sunshine and a gentle breeze blowing, and I 
lieard a song lark singing and as it kept up without a break for 
about a minute, I decided lo time it. T then had the watch on 
it for 3 minutes before it stopped, so that the full time It sus- 
tained its song was 4 minutes, ft was sinning the whole time 
without stopping and produced an extremely quick succession of 
iiotes that it made me wonder liow the bird could do it. The 
notes were trills, calls and canary-like and were very sweet, they 
wxrc made while on the wing both ll\dng ami soaring or hovering. 
I had the bird under observation for about 3 minutes and just 
before the end of the song it volplaned to earth quickly and 
slopped its s{)ug as it reached the ground. Mr. J. Sutton. 
Secretary of the Ornitliological Association, tells me that the 
bird is called the English Song Lark {Alaiida arvensis). 
On the same day another bird alighted on a bush so close 
that 1 could see its beak and throat In action as it sang. It 
kept up its song for a while perched on the shrub. This shows 
that this song lark gives Its notes while still or flying. 
