246 EEMINISCEXCES OF A SPOETSMAN. 



getting within shot of them. When these birds are in 

 large flocks they are generally wild, and must be ap- 

 proached with great caution. Their flights are usually 

 short, and I have had good sport in shooting them 

 in the winter in the province of Valencia in Spain, 

 where I have found them in good condition, and much 

 relished by our small military mess. Eleven golden 

 plovers were once killed at one shot by a gamekeeper 

 in Somersetshire. 



Latham mentions that this bird is procured in all 

 northern countries of Europe. They are numerous in 

 America, from Hudson's Bay to Carolina, migrating from 

 one part to the other according to the change of the 

 seasons, and are met as far south as Aleppo. The stalk- 

 ing horse was formerly made use of to get near the 

 flocks of the golden plover, and in this way a consider- 

 able number were shot. 



" During the late frost and snow, says the Preston 

 Guardian, a man of the name of Crofts killed no less 

 than 118 grey plovers at one shot, on the banks of the 

 river Myre, near the Shard, Hambleton. The same 

 man also killed sixteen wild ducks on the same day at 

 one shot. The gun he used is a sort of large swivel, 

 fixed in a boat ; the ordinary loading is a quarter of a 

 pound of powder and one pound of shot." 



