ML148015

Media notes

A chirping sound made, according to Tinker, by clicking the tongue against the roof of the mouth. See: Tinker, Spencer Wilkie, "Animals of Hawaii", Nippu Jiji Co., Ltd. Honolulu 1938. These lizards live about our home, and on warm evenings are heard chirping on the front porch under the eaves and on the walls of the house as they pursue insects attracted by the house lights. We set up a microphone illuminating light on the wall and taped a light weight, lavalier-type microphone near it, bringing the cable to the Tapesonic in the house. Then we put a 10.5" reel on the recorder and let it run. When we got some chirps, we played them back; if satisfactory we cut them out to keep, then repeated the process until we had an adequate collection. This is a very faint sound, and if played back too loudly will destroy the effect. I have heard geckos in the Philippines chirp so loudly that people had to stop talking until they were through; but this is not true with the Hawaiian ones. Chasing insects. Equipment Notes: Tapesonic 70-C recorder; Electro-voice 647-A microphone.