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210
The Fairy-Land of Science
·
Arabella B. Buckley
132
We
might
fill
up
far
more
than
an
hour
in
speaking
of
those
voices
which
come
to
us
as
nature
is
at
work.
Think
of
the
patter
of
the
rain,
how
each
drop
as
it
hits
the
pavement
sends
circles
of
sound-waves
out
on
all
sides;
or
the
loud
report
which
falls
on
the
ear
of
the
Alpine
traveller
as
the
glacier
cracks
on
its
way
down
the
valley;
or
the
mighty
boom
of
the
avalanche
as
the
snow
slides
in
huge
masses
off
the
side
of
the
lofty
mountain.
Each
and
all
of
these
create
their
sound-waves,
large
or
small,
loud
or
feeble,
which
make
their
way
to
your
ear,
and
become
converted
into
sound.
We
have,
however,
only
time
now
just
to
glance
at
life-sounds,
of
which
there
are
so
many
around
us.
Do
you
know
why
we
hear
a
buzzing,
as
the
gnat,
the
bee,
or
the
cockchafer
fly
past?
Not
by
the
beating
of
their
wings
against
the
air,
as
many
people
imagine,
and
as
is
really
the
case
with
humming
birds,
but
by
the
scraping
of
the
under-part
of
their
hard
wings
against
the
edges
of
their
hind
legs,
which
are
toothed
like
a
saw.
The
more
rapidly
their
wings
move
the
stronger
the
grating
sound
becomes,
and
you
will
now
see
why
in
hot,
thirsty
weather
the
buzzing
of
the
gnat
is
so
loud,
for
the
more
thirsty
and
the
more
eager
he
becomes,
the
wilder
his
movements
will
be.
Some
insects,
like
the
drone-fly
(Eristalis
tenax),
force
the
air
through
the
tiny
air-passages
in
their
sides,
and
as
these
passages
are
closed
by
little
plates,
the
plates
vibrate
to
and
fro
and
make
sound-waves.
Again,
what
are
those
curious
sounds
you
may
hear
sometimes
if
you
rest
your
head
on
a
trunk
in
the
forest?
They
are
made
by
the
timber-boring
beetles,
which
saw
the
wood
with
their
jaws
and
make
a
noise
in
the
world,
even
though
they
have
no
voice.
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