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- 



