Show Out of Doors in the West Sketches of Natural in the Rocky Mountain Plateau Edited by J. H. Professor of Nature Study in the University of Utah September's Field Music A. Among Bird Singers B. Among Insect Fiddlers Toward the southern part of the Rocky Mountain the goldfinch sings continuously in early fall At in Pine and at St. and neighboring places in southern Utah I found the goldfinches singing melodiously in the trees during the first two weeks of What the Goldfinch Mingling with the flocks of goldfinches were an almost equal as I of pine near relatives which are called also pine Both male and female say the female using a high the male often descending to an alto The goldfinch frequently says in a drawn-out that resembles the of one of the It is from this note that the goldfinch gets its specific name the Latin for The continuous chorus of bird music from these litle yellow and black singers was at times so many of them singing at Warblers Sing Among these goldfinch the yellow warbler occasionally and the western yellow throat and the Virginia warbler sometimes The rarer warblers do not sing much in the Once I located and had a good view of the Calaveras bright yellow 1 with distinct chestnut crown patch on the head and olive green and yellowish In the mountains near Pinto I encountered a number of the Townsend small birds with black and yellow bright yellow sides streaked with tail ripped with wing with two white back olive These birds were apparently in They went from tree to tree in little Bush Tits Mingling freely with the warblers were numerous flocks of lead-colored The song of the bush-tits was the queerest little titter I have yet they were very lively in their conversational and constantly kept up their sprightly racket as they moved quickly and from tree to They explored every limb and and would sometimes cling upside down on branches while they examined the under They seemed so so so full of that I followed them from one grove of pinyon pines to The birds of a feather I could see no difference whereby to distinguish the male from the female- all flocked no stragglers remaining behind after the flock had passed White Crowns White crowned mi grating in flocks from the to more southerly sing continuously among the and bushes of the The have a canary-like one of the best to be heard amori the whole sparrow It not so loud and ringing as in j but is complex and inter At Kaysville this ber I encountered them in greM not very and house cats playing havoc these pretty creatures which so The cats scorned English sparrows and sought thesis and trustful cats should be done away The Bullfrog's I might say to teachers in schools that when in August or early in we can still hear at ing many insect musicians in tit the There of in the bullfrog j. deep bass He seems eT I'm tt wisest frog That ever lived in this muddy boi All know I often say Which means that I'm a Wa Black Cricket Some of the black cricked p described in the text arc away in the and fine orchestra these little fiddlers are We get so a fa timed to the sound that we rather when it ceases than it when in full listen to this music is to child as there ever a try boy who did not feel tha- music of the crickets was weg e into the fabric of his dreams The Western Tree The insect that sings trees on summer evenings trilling chirp after tl monotonous but peaceful pleasant making a lullaby is the western tree ft which is also a member grasshopper family After J following up their I have s a pale backed about two-third an inch that makes very I have not thus to get a during the various stages life but have alt found the adult in The eastern is the snowy tree of delicate whitish green Ve may have it for to raspberry canes by its are been The f e-ays the eggs in the die above the gs hatch in the The should be burned be-ie hatching takes o True Insect e are several other singers I aHng not with their but with instruments and se musicians attention may ed with correctly maintained noise which we hear is no but a very occasioned by the air which and being makes a certain noise again and thus it some keep a humming or as others make a ng as with a certain long as the He the whose drum is i magnifying a trivial vibration ito loud l a t is said that American j and pastures in August I tote with the teeming chorus I insect wings and constitute a heritage of the I for the old world not these daytime ur best insect as far the writer is the called the His midsummer zing vibrates j whizzing clearness from many but you cannot easily jae We propose to speak only of some of the grasshopper j I The Grasshopper's j of the grasshopper t an instrumental perform-j usually brought about dur-f ft rest by the rubbing of the j thigh against the edge of f 4 fore These musical y Pr are confined to the male j S and the tunes sung are be love t e meadow to be f in a future is I i green the je his body showing clearly 1 gh the filmy His mu- CaI instrument consists of a spot upon his just the thorax the collar worn by the whole tribe of them to prevent the breaking of necks in their headlong As he sings strange tremor seems to have taken possession of the the edges of the wings seem blurred and indistinct in the rapid and then follow a few resulting in the strain and the strain is answered from numerous sources on every So runs William Hamilton Gibson's account of this grasshopper day Hawthorne speaks of most musical of all the song of the coming in full choir upon the He even is now raised and lowered with more or less regular and continued being pressed close against the firm edge of the wing by which contact the fiddling is Seventeen-Year While the yellow winged grasshopper flies up with a loud or the locust says from his place in the the seventeen-year the which is not really a locust but a sings from the sagebrush in a note so high and so fine that some people's ears fail to notice The we do not the nearest relatives of the eastern katydids are our little green tree-crickets Rocky Mountain Locust Rocky Mountain Locust Rocky Mountain f different stages ol growth of laying After that if moonlight could be heard it would sound just like the cone-headed Gibson describes as imp of that only by special favor discloses his noisy resources in the day He usually to file his saw outside your window at the approach of In the or short-horned the wings act as the viol to which the insect's leg performs the a locust office of a begins his he is apt to assume the attitude of the first trio the pictured among my shank of his leg being drawn the beneath within a groove evidently made for With an air of comical solemnity the leg mentioned How Insects Many of the grasshoppers arc industrious but none of them really When at rest certain species draw the hind legs up and down across the wing so that numerous fine little ridges on the main joint of the leg the femur are rasped across a thick ridge or vein that runs along the outer surface of the wing or outside Others make their shrill music while flying striking or rubbing the upper and under wings One of our large creamy wings makes a clacking noise in this The chirping sound of the produced by the male is likewise supposed to be a love The sound is produced by the friction of the upper wings over each An inflated coarsely occurs at the base of each upper By rasping or scraping the file-like spot of the under wing over the same part of the wing above a vibrant note the cricket's song is given For Boys and The soberest boy or girl must smile and the merry will laugh at this absurd Grasshoppers can't and we remember this as soon as we see that in this picture they seem to be One is playing on a and that is also though the grasshopper has a fiddle of his own and can play a sort of tune on as we shall As to that fellow carrying a he is also very but the grasshopper has a rake on his hind legs to help him to and enough himself a fellow that chews tobacco and takes what does not belong to But if these little rogues could don't you think they would be giving us the old this by and For many a farmer in the west has had his entire crop devoured by the when he could do nothing to stay their devouring The worst thief of the lot the one that helps himself to almost every plant that grows is a dusty looking kind called the Rocky Mountain It is shown in the large Notice the two fore how straight they and the two hind wings that look like fold up just like fans beneath the fore or upper The upper wings are stiff and not used in their use is simply to cover and protect the flying rear hence the upper wings arc called wing They are so straight thai this whole order of insects are called the straight wings the In means means By combining these two words we get a straight for the change to You can observe how straight the wing covers are and how prettily folded are the flying if you will catch and examine a grasshopper They live mainly in the grass and they travel by hopping as well as by A little girl once said she thought would be a better name but we couldn't change the name even if we should If you wish to see a pretty look at the veins of the rear wings with a hand It was said above that don't and this is true of all for none of them possesses a Many of them make nad some of especially among the straight winged make musical They do this by rubbing the under and upper wings together while or by drawing the largest or front joint of the hind leg across the edge of the outer They or rather iu this way in order to signal to each grasshoppers can and they have The ears of the grasshopper are not on its but on its A nearly round spot on the body just above the place where the last pair of legs comes is the It has a thin covering the Under a strong lens a black central spot shows where the nerves of hearing The ears of crickets- are on the second large joint of the fore legs-that on the Mosquitoes with their wings and hear with their or All insects except the hear by means of fine hairs on the Grasshoppers can Their two large sometimes nearly round but more often are easy to These if observed with a are seen to be made up of scores of single all pressed together till they form a large bundle of six-sided These eyes see all but not very distinctly and not very In the middle of the forehead between the bases of the there is very simple Thus the grasshopper has three Most in- sects have only two eyes and most spiders have eight eyes as as eight Count the legs of the and note the parts of each Grasshoppers can though they have no The feelers and certain of the mouth parts detect Grasshoppers breathe by means of little holes one on each ring or segment of the Count the segments and locate the spiracles with a How would you drown a Grasshoppers can they have two pairs of which work two pairs of about the mouth an upper and a lower and a sort of They chew their food and a good deal of it on hand to spit out as a means of defense seized by an Grasshoppers can that is why the hind legs are so much longer and stronger than the Measure how many times his own length a grasshopper or cricket can- and compare it our own The female lays eggs in hard often in and about alfalfa If a harrow is drawn over lands in early many of eggs will be exposed to rain and frost and will be Or hungry beetles and birds' will- eat the Some grasshoppers lay only three or four but most kinds lay fifty or and some lay sev- eral Some lay in the others in others in the The eggs hatch in spring or Most of the adults die in but a few live The young when first works it sway to the top of the first it is covered with a thin which it sheds to free its feelers and mouth Then it eats and Its skin soon hardens and gets too tight for it stops' eating and remains quiet for a few hours its old skin splits down the back and it wriggles out clothed in a new This happens four or five till the hopper becomes full The only skeleton a grasshopper has is this coat on the outside its |