THE GRASSHOPPER'S COUSINS
The song of ensiger sounds like the noise of a miniature sewing machine, consisting merely of a long series of one note, tick, tick, tick, tick, etc., repeated indefinitely. Scudder says ensiger begins with a note like brw, then pauses an instant and immediately emits a rapid succession of sounds like chwi at the rate of about rive per second and continues them an unlimited time. McNeil represents the notes as zip, zip, zip; Davis expresses them as ik, ik, ik; and Allard hears them as tsip, tsip, tsip. The song of retusus (Fig. 27) is quite different. It consists of a long shrill whir which Rehn and Hebard describe as a continuous zeeeeeeeeee. The sound is not loud but is in a very high key and rises in pitch as the player gains speed in his wing movements, till to some human ears it becomes almost inaudible, though to others it is a plain and distinct screech.
Fig. 28. The robust conehead, Neoconocephalus robustus, in position of singing, with fore wings separated and somewhat elevated, the head downward
A large conehead and one with a much stronger instrument is the robust conehead, Neoconocephalus robustus (Fig. 28). He is one of the loudest singers of North American Orthoptera, his song being an intense, continuous buzz, somewhat resembling that of a cicada. A caged specimen singing in a room makes a deafening noise. The principal buzzing sound is accompanied by a lower, droning hum, the origin of which is not clear, but which is probably some secondary vibration of the wings. The player always sits head downward
[51]
