Male crickets chirp by rubbing a scraper located on one forewing along a row of about 50 to 250 teeth on the opposite forew.... cricket second

The frequency of the chirps depends on the number of teeth struck per second and varies from 1,500 cycles per second in the largest cricket species to nearly 10,000 cycles per second in the smallest. The most common cricket songs are the calling song, which attracts the female; the courtship, or mating, song, which induces the female to copulate; and the fighting chirp, which repels other males. The field cricket (also called the black cricket) is common in fields and yards and sometimes enters buildings. Ground crickets (subfamily Nemobiinae, or sometimes Gryllinae), approximately 12 mm long, are commonly found in pastures and wooded areas. The snowy tree cricket ( Oecanthus fultoni ) is popularly known as the thermometer cricket because the approximate temperature (Fahrenheit) can be estimated by counting the number of chirps in 15 seconds and adding 40. Tree- and bush-inhabiting crickets usually sing at night; weed-inhabiting crickets sing both day and night. Sword-bearin! g, or winged bush, crickets (subfamily Trigonidiinae) are 4 to 9 mm long and brown and possess a sword-shaped ovipositor. In East Asia male crickets are caged for their songs, and cricket fighting has been a favourite sport in China for hundreds of years. Insects called crickets but not of the cricket family Gryllidae include the camel cricket, Jerusalem cricket, mole cricket, and pygmy sand cricket.