What does a cricket's chirp sound like, and do both males and females make sounds?

[Question 1] What does a cricket's chirp sound like? Do both male and female crickets make sounds?

[Expert answer] A cricket's chirp is produced by the vibration of the broad, large and extremely thin wing covers growing on its back, and it is varied, but only male crickets can chirp; female crickets do not chirp.

Some cricket chirps sound like “jiji ji”, some like “dudu du”, and others like “qu qu qu” and “ding—qu, ding—qu.

A cricket's chirp is related to some extent to its appearance.

Large crickets chirp slowly, sometimes only two or three times in several hours. Small crickets chirp at a fast rate and chirp frequently.

Crickets of various colors, such as black, purple, red and yellow, all have different chirps; for example, the chirp of the yellow cricket has a metallic sound. All chirps also have extremely subtle differences that can only be distinguished with care.

A cricket's two wings come in several shapes, including square wings, pointed wings, large wings, plum-blossom wings and pipa wings. Because the wing shapes differ, the chirps they produce also differ; generally speaking, the higher the two wings are raised, the crisper and louder the sound produced. One kind, whose wings are especially long and cover the body, has a particularly hoarse chirp. Their chirps are rather hard to imitate; some sound like “jiji ji”, some like “dudu du”, and the chirp of the large-winged ones is like a great bell, truly most pleasant to hear.

When a fighting cricket calls for a female, it raises its two wings high and rubs them together to produce a rapid chirp. Every male adult can produce two completely different chirps. This is where its chirp differs from those of other insects, and one cannot help but marvel at the wonder of the creator.

If a cricket chirps monotonously like “qu qu qu”, that is a lonely male cricket's courtship call as it searches for a mate.

There is also a kind of soft, graceful singing like “ding—qu, ding—qu”; this is the cricket “playing the lute”, which shows that in the burrow, besides one male cricket, there is at least one more “three-spear”——a female cricket——as they bill and coo.

[Question 2] When do crickets make sounds?

[Expert answer]

Crickets make sounds under four circumstances: 1. Courtship, which is the most common chirp. 2. The chirp after defeating an opponent; at this time the chirp is the most majestic and powerful. 3. The chirp before a fight; some crickets, upon seeing an opponent, will first make a sound as a deterrent in the hope of scaring the opponent away. 4. The sweet talk before mating; through its chirp, the male cricket can make the female cricket come closer, and once the tails of the male and female crickets come close enough to be touched by the hind legs, the male cricket begins to sing its love song; at this time the chirp is gentle and soft, and it does not stop until the female cricket is in the mood, when they enter mating.