Exotics and Retrospectives — Part 26

O Kirigirisu! cry not, I pray, so loudly! Hearing, my sorrow grows, and the autumn-night is long!

[Illustration: KUSA-HIBARI (_natural size_).]

The _kusa-hibari_, or “Grass-Lark,”--also called _Asa-suzu_, or “Morning-Bell;” _Yabu-suzu_, or “the Little Bell of the Bamboo-grove;” _Aki-kazé_, or “Autumn-Wind;” and _Ko-suzu-mushi_, or “the Child of the Bell-Insect,”--is a day-singer. It is very small,--perhaps the smallest of the insect-choir, except the _Yamato-suzu_.

[Illustration: YAMATO-SUZU (“LITTLE-BELL OF YAMATO”) (_natural size_).]

The _kin-hibari_, or “Golden Lark” used to be found in great numbers about the neighborhood of the well-known Shino-bazu-no-iké,--the great lotos-pond of Uyeno in Tōkyō;--but of late years it has become scarce there. The _kin-hibari_ now sold in the capital are brought from Todogawa and Shimura.

[Illustration: KIN-HIBARI (_natural size_).]

The _kuro-hibari_, or “Black Lark,” is rather uncommon, and comparatively dear. It is caught in the country about Tōkyō, but is never bred.

[Illustration: KURO-HIBARI (_natural size_).]

There are many varieties of this night-cricket,--called _kōrogi_ from its music:--“_kiri-kiri-kiri-kiri!--kōro-kōro-kōro-kōro!--ghi-ï-ï-ï-ï-ï-ï!_” One variety, the _ebi-kōrogi_, or “shrimp-kōrogi,” does not make any sound. But the _uma-kōrogi_, or “horse-kōrogi;” the _Oni-kōrogi_, or “Demon-kōrogi;” and the _Emma-kōrogi_, or “Cricket-of-Emma[14] [King of the Dead],” are all good musicians. The color is blackish-brown, or black;--the best singing-varieties have curious wavy markings on the wings.

[Illustration: EMMA-KŌROGI (_natural size_).]

An interesting fact regarding the _kōrogi_ is that mention of it is made in the very oldest collection of Japanese poems known, the _Manyōshu_, probably compiled about the middle of the eighth century. The following lines, by an unknown poet, which contain this mention, are therefore considerably more than eleven hundred years old:--

Niwa-kusa ni Murasamé furité Kōrogi no Naku oto kikeba Aki tsukinikeri.

[“Showers have sprinkled the garden-grass. Hearing the sound of the crying of the kōrogi, I know that the autumn has come.”]