MONTAUK POINT. 309 



before gazed on such a sight. There they stand 

 with heads erect, and bodies motionless, just out of 

 gunshot. Tlieir number is computed by our com* 

 panion to be not less tlian three thousand, closely 

 packed, and apparently awaiting our onset. What 

 is to be done ? Delay may be fatal, but precipi- 

 tancy would be equally so: and our pulses stop 

 beating under the stress of the emergency. Our 

 horse also stops, obedient to an involuntary pull of 

 the reins. We accept the omen, and cautiously de- 

 scend from our vehicle ; warily crawling to within 

 seventy yards, we halt as we see unmistakable evi- 

 dences of uneasiness and suspicion among the 

 crowded ranks. They stoop, they run, they rise 

 with " a sounding roar," to which the united report 

 of our four barrels savagely responds. Away, away 

 with headlong speed, scatters and dissolves that 

 multitudinous host, and we hasten to secure our 

 spoils. 



But, seventy yards make a long range for plover- 

 shooting, and we are somewhat chagrined to find 

 that only six dead and seven wounded birds remain 

 as proofs of the accuracy of our aim, and the effi- 

 ciency of our weapons. Hurriedly we plant our 

 stools, hoping for the return of at least a consider- 

 able portion of the vanished forces ; but they have 

 apparently had enough of our society, and, after 

 two hours spent in ambush, with only an occasional 

 shot at single stragglers or small flocks, we wend 

 our way back to the house. 



On the morrow we kill a dozen birds over the 



