The Black Tern 
During the migrations the 
birds may show themselves on 
southern ponds, at Nigger 
Slough or Elsinore, or even at the 
beaches; but little time is spent en 
route, and the birds are anxious 
to get to the home grounds where 
they may at least talk business. 
If the water-levels are right, they 
will pitch into May’s serious 
task as early as the ioth in¬ 
stant; but if, as is more likely, 
it is still too chilly or too dry, 
they will harry the Grebes, or 
the muskrats, or vent their 
displeasure on a prowling coy¬ 
ote. Nesting is at its height 
by the second week in June, 
but high water or destructive 
winds foil many early efforts 
and not half the babies of the 
season are brought off before 
July. Late July and early Au¬ 
gust are spent in leisurely fash¬ 
ion, either in loitering about the 
accustomed swamps or in the exploration of out-of-the-way lakes not 
suitable for breeding purposes. The return movement sets in by the 
middle of August, at which time the higher altitudes are cleared; but 
migrants are passing at the coast till mid-September. 
The food of the Black Tern consists very largely of insects. These 
are obtained a-wing, and in securing them the bird exhibits great dex¬ 
terity,—now towering to a lofty height, with a single stroke against the 
wind, to make connections with a drifting moth; now following a be¬ 
wildering zigzag through the reed-tops in pursuit of the agile dragon-fly. 
In the fall I have seen them busily engaged over beds of pond-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. Un¬ 
doubtedly, also, they glean the larvae of various water-insects from the 
stalks of ascending vegetation; and they use to a lesser degree the plunge- 
and-strike methods of the other terns. 
In searching for the nests of the Black Tern, one must penetrate the 
14.62 
Taken near Los Banos 
Photo by the Author 
A CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR 
