MONTAUK POINT. 179 
some nine miles from the extreme point, that I am 
about to carry the reader, for here alone can plover- 
shooting be enjoyed in its fullest perfection. 
There are numerous kinds of plover that make 
their migratory passages along our coasts; but the 
one to which I refer, while to the epicure it ranks 
almost, if not absolutely, the first upon the list, and 
affords, by the swiftness of its flight and the eccen- 
tricity of its habits, a prize not unworthy of the 
highest efforts of the sportsman, has been the victim 
of many a misnomer, but is correctly known by the 
appellation American Golden Plover, Charadrius 
pluvialis (P.). The Plover-family is large and of high 
respectability ; but, when “ upon his native heath,” 
no one of its clans is entitled to wear a loftier crest 
than that which we now have under discussion. 
His near relative, the Bartramian Sandpiper or 
Grey Plover, is perhaps more aristocratically delicate 
in his figure, and is welcomed as heartily at the 
table of the epicure. But he is less social in his 
habits, and rarely affords any but single shots. He 
does not fraternize with wooden counterfeits, and 
his mellow whistle, as he rises at an impracticable 
distance, rarely responds to even the most seductive 
efforts of his pursuer. But our Golden friend, 
notwithstanding his auriferous title, his superior 
beauty of plumage, his swiftness and strength, and 
the savory reputation which he enjoys among the 
knowing-ones, is possessed of gregarious habits, of 
a singularly frank and unsuspicious nature, and is 
generally ready to stop and have a chat with any- 
