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pitably that night and the following day. Bowdish and I were 

 rather weary after our labors, and after loading our plate- 

 holders, retired for the first good night's sleep we had had since 

 leaving Beaufort; for, though a staunch craft, and an ideal 

 one for the warden to cruise about the sound in, the '^Butcher" 

 was hardly fitted for accommodating an ornithological expedi- 

 tion with all its necessary equipment. 



Sunda}^, the 27th of June, we spent with Captain Davis in 

 looking around the town of Buxton, and in a visit to the ocean 

 side of the Banks, which here are about three miles wide. They 

 are well timbered with pine, though much of it has been lum- 

 bered out. From the beach, almost under the shadow of 

 Hatteras Light, we could see the Diamond Shoals Lightship. 



The following morning dawned bright and clear, with less wind 

 than usual, and we were early astir and ready for a return to 

 Miller Lump to continue our photographic work on the Terns. 

 Through the kindness of Captain Davis, I obtained a hammer 

 and nails and some thin pine boards, with which to build a blind. 

 After a hasty breakfast, we boarded the ''Dutcher" and soon 

 were back at the lump, where we found the birds still in un- 

 disturbed possession. On this occasion we wasted no time in 

 approaching carefully, but proceeded at once to build the blind 

 of scantling about twenty feet from the nests. We covered it 

 with layers of wet seaweed, and I hid within. Bowdish, Brim- 

 ley, and the warden retired to the boat. The birds followed 

 them and seemed to think the coast was clear; for in a few 

 moments they returned and settled on their eggs, almost under 

 my very nose. Then I certainly had an hour of enjoyment, 

 though within the blind it was very, very hot. In a colony of 

 this size, with the birds nesting so close together, there is endless 

 commotion and stir, giving splendid opportunity for photo- 

 graphic work. The birds were constantly leaving and returning 

 to .their eggs. Like other sea birds, the Royal Tern does not 

 incubate by sitting closely, but seems to go to its nest chiefly 

 for the purpose of turning the eggs or shading them from the sun. 

 The birds are handsome creatures, with their crimson bills, gray 

 wings, snow-white breasts, and bold topknots. They keep up 

 a continual screeching sort of conversation among themselves. 



