186 MONTAUK POINT. 
before gazed on such a sight. There they stand 
with heads erect, and bodies motionless, just out of 
gunshot. Their number is computed by our com- 
panion to be not less than 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 
