THE PLAINS 



349 



young could be secured without difHcnlty, but I frankly con- 

 fess that although every means 1 could devise was used to 

 secure satisfactory photogi-aphs of the birds themselves, the 

 effort failed. 



The instinct of incubation is apparently too poorly de- 

 veloped to make the nest a lure, while the shyness of the 

 birds, the instantaneousness with which their diving habits 

 enable them to disappear, and the denseness of the tules 

 among wliich they lived, all uulitated against success. AVhat- 

 ever was leai-ned of the habits of the bird, as it was observed 

 ))oth hei-e and on Big Stick, has been incorporated in my 

 notes on this species in the preceding cliapter. 



Black Terns 



