MONTAUK POINT. 181 



former, the latter will pour into our sympathetic 

 ears wonderful accounts of their sport, and rival one 

 another in recounting the long shots and the good 

 shots they have made, the numbers of birds they 

 have killed, and the pounds of bass they have caught. 



Under the influences of a delicious supper and 

 moderate " nightcap," we seek our couch with fond 

 visions of the great flocks, and hopeful dreams that 

 we will do as well on the morrow. At earliest dawn 

 we spring from our bed, and rushing to the primitive 

 little casement have only time to rejoice in the pro- 

 mise of a fine day, ere we note the welcome cry of 

 our noble prey hurrying westward over the beach. 



To don our shooting costume, to grasp our gun 

 and ammunition, to load ourselves with the basket 

 containing decoys and incidentals, and to emerge 

 into the cool air of the September morning, require 

 but a few minutes ; we hasten across the sandy hil- 

 locks to our appointed spot, marked by a hollow 

 scooped out for the concealment of former visitants, 

 and by the quantity of feathers and cigar-stumps 

 lying loosely around ; and with hands trembling 

 with impatience, we distribute the stools in what 

 seems to us to be the most artistic and seductive 

 manner, for the birds are now beginning to fly 

 just within a tantalizing yet impracticable range, and 

 we long for action. 



How wild, how glorious is the hour and the scene ! 

 The heavy boom of the ocean, which rolls almost at 

 our feet, is relieved by the soft, mellow notes of the 

 sea-birds which float through the air in varied yet 



