THE WHITE-WINGED FLEET 



ious and unceasing fuss over my presence, going 

 on to their nests awhile, and flying up again with- 

 out any seeming provocation. At first I thought 

 that the task I 

 had grappled 

 with so confi- 

 dently would 

 find the day too 

 short for its ac- 

 complishment. I 

 set the camera in 

 the sand, or 

 grass, by shelter- 

 ing clumps of 

 weeds, near two 

 or three nests, 

 but the hovering 

 birds provoking- 

 ly would not go 

 on, and I could 

 not afford time 

 for an indefinite 

 wait. At last I 

 noticed a set of 

 two eggs that were pipped, and I certainly thought 

 the owner would brave the camera for them. So 

 she did. With the thread in hand I lay down 

 on the sand about fifty yards away. Within five 

 minutes she alit close to the nest, and I got a 

 picture, and soon another, as she was covering her 

 eggs. 



Quite a few of the Gulls' eggs had hatched. 

 The young were skulking among the weeds and 



155 



" I TRIED MY LUCK ON THE TERNS." YOUNG COM- 

 MON TERN 



