756 THE BLACK TERN. 
IN some of the prairie states of the Middle West the Black Tern 
seems to be a sort of connecting link between the birds of land and water. 
There it is found either singly or in little companies, ranging over the prairie 
with the freedom of a swallow and at considerable distances from its breeding 
haunts. In our own State it is more strictly confined to the vicinity of the 
extensive tulé swamps of the interior lakes, or to the adjacent meadows, and 
appears to have no interest in the sagey uplands. During the migrations the 
birds may take a turn about some wayside pond, or even pause at the Snake 
River; but they attract little attention save in the vicinity of the swamp itself. 
The Terns arrive upon 
their breeding grounds 
during the second week 
in May, but they are not 
usually in haste to begin 
their nesting, since there 
is danger not only of 
high water and destruc- 
tive storms, but of cold 
snaps as well. Nesting is 
at its height during the 
second week in June, but 
fresh sets are sometimes 
obtainable well into July. 
Photo by the Author. August is spent in leis- 
IN ANGRY MOOD. urely fashion, either in 
loitering about the more 
secluded lakes or remaining in the accustomed swamps. The return move- 
ment begins late in August, and continues in a desultory fashion well into 
September, but may be accelerated by early frosts. 
The food of the Black Tern consists almost exclusively of insects. These 
are obtained a-wing, and in securing them the bird exhibits great dexterity,— 
now towering to a lofty height, with a single stroke against the wind, to 
make connections with a drifting moth; now following a bewildering zigzag 
thru the reed-tops in pursuit of the agile dragon-fly. In the fall I have 
seen them busily engaged over beds of pickerel-weed. On these occasions 
they feed with a peculiar dabbing motion, by which they cull some tidbit from 
the surface of the weed-strewn water, and regain a higher level after each 
stroke without wetting the wings; but whether they find insect prey or only 
vegetable matter, I have not been able to determine. 
In searching for the nests of the Black Tern one must penetrate the 
oozy recesses of some undisturbed swamp, preferably in a flat-boat. Here in 
a secluded bayou the birds will hover about the intruder, fretting and scream- 
