Music of the Wild; With Reproductions of the Performers, Their Instruments and Festival Halls (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1910 Excerpt: ...that they deceive most of us into thinking it song. To have given to her kin their medium of self-expression, that would have entitled Katy to the immortality she has earned. "Katy did " triumphs one of her admirers, as if it were a fact just discovered. "Katy did it " emphasizes another worshiper. "Katy did " corroborates a friend in the next bush. "Katy did it " iterates the first, with all assurance; and the manner in which these exquisite insects can emphasize their notes is marvelous. Not a bird of ornithology can speak plainer, betteraccented English than they, not even the whippoor-will; and no insects can approach them. Compared with their clean-cut, distinctly enunciated syllables, all the remainder of their insect relatives 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 Katyd, dit manner as the grasshopper produces his strident buzz. Because the fields seem to be the true home of the katy-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. Most 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 they. The adult is a solid green of pale color, yellowish in faint tints in some lights, a dainty bluish Katy.s in others. The faceplate and wide "choker" apCostume pear to De 0f the same glassy coat of mail as those of the grasshopper. The legs are very long, and the hind pair has claspers. The Mings resemble deeply veined and grooved leaves, the musical plates showing...