PL O VER-SHOOTING. 1 77 



seems to cause Plover more pleasure than the 

 gently flowing tide ; the first tiny waves that ripple 

 over their feet wake them into life at once, and they 

 commence to dabble and wash with brisk delight, 

 whistling a delighted chorus meanwhile. The call 

 of a Golden Plover is plaintive to a degree, and 

 arrests attention among a host of shore birds. 

 Both Golden and Grey, especially the former, are 

 tame when alone ; but should a few Peewits be 

 with them, the latter will perceive danger soonest, 

 and put all the others up by rising from their midst. 



In shooting Golden Plover from a punt, or with 

 a heavy shoulder-gun, however close their ranks, it 

 is seldom that a good shot can be made on the 

 ground ; that is to say, a shot that does execution 

 in proportion to the number of birds fired at. 

 Indeed, no shot is a successful one to a fowler that 

 does not attain this end. Golden Plover sit so low 

 and small that it is wellnigh impossible to send the 

 weight of a charge among them ; if it were feasible 

 to raise them by making a noise all the better, but 

 this with Plover is very risky. They are apt to 

 straggle up too far apart to fire at, and yet afford a 

 scantier shot on the ground. If they do happen to 

 rise well together, and you send the charge straight 

 when their wings are just extended, you will bring 

 down three times as many as if you had taken them 

 sitting. I have succeeded in stopping fifty couple 

 of Golden Plover at a shot, by judiciously raising 

 them ; whereas thirty to forty birds, from the irregu- 

 larity of the ground, would have been as many as 

 I could have expected had I fired as they stood. 



They must not, however, be allowed to rise too 



