There is another problem with the poem. Freneau's insect is a female. Among species of the order orthoptera, which includes grasshoppers, crickets, the praying mantis and cockroaches as well as katydids, the katydid is one of the few whose adult females produce sound. Unfortunately for Freneau, however, the female katydid only responds to the male's accusations with a simple squawk. We can certainly appreciate that occasional answering complaint to the male's grating phrase for he repeats it as many as 50 million times over a single summer.
Insect sound is indeed a dog day feature of our region.
It replaces the springtime chorus of frogs and provides, for me at least, a pleasant background noise. In bed at night I fall asleep almost immediately listening to the katydids chanting in our backyard ash trees. I am like those puppies that are lulled to sleep by a ticking clock. It is certainly more musical, but after a while I simply cannot stand the whistled repetitions. Perhaps this effect is due to my initial excitement at hearing this rare bird.