How do crickets chirp?

Crickets chirp to indicate readiness to mate by rubbing their forewings together. I feed crickets to my gecko, so I'm often able to approach them in a stealthy sort of way and catch them at it. It looks very interesting. They'll keep the wings raised even when they aren't chirping and they'll sit very still for a time. Then when they do chirp, the wings move so quickly that it's a blur. You can tell the male apart from the female because the female has a long projection from the end of her abdomen which she uses to deposit eggs beneath the surface of soil or leaf litter (I THINK that's called an ovipositor). I'll feed the females to my gecko first because I like to hear the males chirp. =P