Nature · Level 1 · 127 words

The Cricket's Wing Song

Original passage © Studio AM, written for Fluency.

On a warm evening, a field cricket's chirp may seem to rise from the grass. The sound does not come from its throat. A male cricket lifts his front wings and rubs a scraper on one wing across a row of tiny ridges on the other.

Each closing stroke makes the wing membranes vibrate. Those vibrations push the air, creating one pulse of sound. The opening stroke is usually quiet, so the rhythm follows the closing movements. Repeated strokes form a chirp or a longer trill. The pattern helps female crickets recognize a caller of their species, and males may use other songs during close encounters. Different cricket species produce different patterns. What sounds like one simple nighttime voice is careful motion made by two small wings.

Comprehension questions

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4 questions
1. What is the main idea of the passage?

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C. A male cricket creates patterned calls by scraping specialized front wings together and making their membranes vibrate.
The passage explains the wing structures, closing motion, vibration, and repeated patterns behind a cricket’s call.

2. Why can different call patterns help a female cricket?

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D. They can help her recognize a caller belonging to her species.
The text connects species-specific patterns with a female cricket’s ability to recognize a caller.

3. What does “pulse” mean in the phrase “one pulse of sound”?

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A. one short burst of sound
One closing stroke creates a single unit of sound, and repeated units build the chirp or trill.

4. Which two wing parts rub together to begin the cricket's sound?

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B. a scraper and a row of tiny ridges
The first paragraph identifies a scraper on one front wing moving across tiny ridges on the other.

Source: Written for Fluency. Original passage © Studio AM, written for Fluency.