MORSE: ORTIIOPTKRA OF NEW EXCILAND. 235 
hovering thereover so well described above, during which an 
interrupted crackhng sound is produced, evidently at will, with 
particular movements of the wings, but the sound is a niulllcd 
one, though decidedly louder and sharper than that heard during 
its ordinary flight. I have seen it rise to a height of ten feet, 
particularly when in face of a bank, and it often remains a con- 
siderable time in the air nearly stationary or moving slightlj' up 
and down."— (S. H. S.) 
This account brings us logically to a consideration of the sub- 
ject of the noises made by these insects, their purpose and place in 
Nature, and the methods by which they are produced, a subject 
of more than usual popular interest. 
The Songs of Grasshoppers and Crickets. 
"I have reflected \\ith surprise on the diversity of the means for producing 
music with insects, and still more with birds. We thus get a high idea of the 
importance of song in the animal kingdom." — Darwin. 
In spring-time the fields and woods resound to the voices of 
amphibians, — frogs, toads, and their like, — sitting up to their 
necks in ice-water it may be, but jingling, croaking, or trilling 
merrily, nevertheless, telling us that Nature has again set free 
the streams and ponds; and to the songs of birds also, which 
thrill us even more with the kindred sympathies and emotions 
which we share with them at nest-building time. 
In midsummer the songs of these children of Nature gradually 
die out and are replaced by others of different origin — insect 
voices — to which the golden days of autumn slip b}' as to an 
unceasing accompaniment. Night and day shifts of performers, 
with talent diversified according to the locality and the environ- 
ment, provide a constant undertone of varied sounds, — sounds 
which are appreciated by but few and scarcely noticed by the 
many human creatures to whom, next to the insects' mates, they 
should most strongly appeal. 
" It sounds like fall," is a remark frequently heard in the latter 
days of August; but exactly why is scarcely given a thought. 
Beyond a general but vague impression that Crickets are in some 
way responsible, few hearers have any idea of the variety of 
