The Black Tern at Home 3 



the Terns were greatly concerned. With piercing screams they darted at 

 us, once actually hitting Mr. Seton's hat. 



Search failing to reveal any sign of the young birds, the camera was left 

 to play detective. Focusing it on the empty nest and surrounding it with 

 ' cat -tails,' we attached some seventy feet of tubing and retired to the high 

 grasses of a neighboring dry bank. Hut we were not hidden from the 

 Tern. She hovered over us, shrieking her disgust with scarcely a pause, 

 turning her long beak to this side and that, as she brought each eye in turn 

 to bear. Finally, her craiks grew softer, and, fluttering over the nest, she 

 uttered a sohwheent — ivbeent — wheent, which probably meant to her down- 



VOUNG BLACK TERNS IN NEST 

 July 8. iQoi 



ings "It's all right; come back home now." After half a minute of this 

 calling, she fluttered lower and dropped out of sight behind the reed barriers. 

 Apparently, there could be little doubt that with her voice she had conjured 

 the chicks back to the nest. 



Acting on this belief, a dozen rapid strokes were given to the bicycle 

 pump at the end of the tube, and the Tern promptly flew up into the air, 

 uttering her loud craik — craik in a way that plainly showed something had 

 happened close by to alarm her, and thus plainly told us that the shutter on 

 the camera had been sprung. Instantly we rushed through the mud and 

 water to the nest, but only to find it as empty as before. 



Inserting a fresh plate in the camera, we returned to our hiding-place. 

 Again the Tern scolded us vigorously, but after a while, as before, her fears 

 seemed to decrease; she gradually drew nearer to the nest and eventually 

 dropped lightly down into the reeds, evidently on it. After waiting a 



