NATURE’S CHORISTERS 219 
they have no wings. As they grow in size they 
shed their skin, and with each new garb the wings 
show more and more, until after the fifth molt 
they appear fully developed, and the young katy¬ 
dids are now grown up. This is usually about 
the first of August, and now one whose ear is 
tuned to Nature’s sounds will frequently hear a 
new beginner lisping f Katy! Katy! * His in¬ 
strument seems to require a good deal of tuning 
and scraping before he finally brings out a 
triumphant ' Katy-did! 9 But when once he has 
the plaint in motion, he is capable of keeping up 
the sound monotonously all night long. Katy¬ 
dids seldom sound their notes in the daytime. 
To do so would be to reveal their hiding-places to 
the birds, and be, in brief, little short of plain 
suicide.” 
“ Self-defense, no doubt, explains why so many 
of Nature’s small choristers prefer to sound their 
lays at night,” Auntie reflected. “ Little inter¬ 
mediate sounds many of them are, for the most 
part scarce sounds at all. They would pass all 
unnoted in the day’s busy turmoil, but at night 
when all is still they add full measure to the peace 
and charm of the quiet eveningtide. Cowper 
puts the thought most pleasingly: 
“ Sounds inharmonious in themselves and harsh, 
Yet, heard in scenes where peace forever reigns, 
And only there, please highly for their sake.” 
