THE PRAIRIES 327 



properly released and once more splashed quickly through 



the water to see what we might see ; but only an empty nest 

 met our gaze, and we were as ignorant of the fate of tlie 

 young Terns as we had been in the beginning. 



The continued anxiety of the parents, however, encour- 

 aged us to continue our efforts to solve the mysterious dis- 



Black Tern Attacking 



appearance of their chicks, and, after several more attempts 

 we reached the nest just in time to see the two little ones 

 paddling away into the surrounding reeds, like ducklings. 

 This caused us to believe that on each occasion they had re- 

 turned to the nest only to desert it again as the old bird left 

 them, but it was not until the plates were developed, a 

 month later, that we could really put together the whole 



