The Field Cricket (classified by scientists as Gryllus pennsylvanicus) is reddish-brown to black in color with long anntenae. This type of cricket is usually no more than 1 inch in length. It lives in fields, meadows, and the edges of some forests throughout the world. The field cricket eats almost anything: plants, dead insects, cloth, seeds, and small fruit.

Adult crickets spend their day in dark areas of the fields, such as under a rock, beneath the leaves of a plant, or in small burrows. But at night they come alive! Male field crickets begin to rub their wings together to make a chirping sound in order to attrach female mates. The females hear the song through a part of their body called the tympanum, found on their front legs. Female field crickets do not 'sing', though.

Field crickets lay eggs deep into the soil where they will be protected. The eggs will hatch the following spring. However, the crickets themselves do not survive the winter--they will die soon after the cold weather sets in. Field crickets have many predators, including other larger insects, frogs, and turtles.