Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1885-05-27
Fast Flying Wild Fowl

'I've held my watch on about every
kind of wild duck there is" said an old
time wild fowl hunter, sand | can tell
just about to the sixty-third part of a
dot how much space any one of 'em car
get over in an hour. There's no rail
road train on the continent that can
hold a candle to one side Of the slOweSt
duck that flies.
1.-The canvasback can distance the
whole duck family, If it lays itself out
! to do il. When the canyaSback IS out
taking things easy, enjoying little run
around the block, as II were, II jOgs
through the air at the rate OF eighty
miles an hour. If it has business some
where and has to get there, it puts two
miles behind it every minute it keeps its
wings Tapping, and does 1t rs easy as
you or would step into Fritz's and call
for beer. Ii you don't believe i just
IRE square at the leader in "A string OF
canvasbaCks that are out on a business
cruise some time when you get the
chance. Duck shot travels pretty quick,
but if your charge brings down any one
of these ducks at all, I'll blow you of
to a pair of the best there is in the mar
ket, with trimmings and all, if 1t isn't
the fifth or sixth one back from the lea
der that drops. If you have the faint
est idea that YOU will bring the leader
down you must aim at space not less
than ten feet ahead of them. Then he'll
run plump against your shot. When
he drops You viii find him quarter of
a mile or so on.
''The mallard duck is a slow coach.
It's all he wants To do TO go mile q
minute, but he can do it when it is ne
Cessary. His ordinary, everyday style
OF getting along over the country gets
him from place to place at about fOr-
ty-fiye mile-an-hOuT rate. The black
duck IS about an even mate for the NAL
lard, and the pin-tail widgeOn and wood
duck can do much better. The red
head can sail along with ease and cover
hIs ninety miles an hour as long as he
feels inclined to. The blue-winged teal
and its handsome cousin, the green |
winged teal, could fly side by side for
100 miles and make the distance neck I
and neck, for one can fly Just Us fast rs
the other, and to 90 100 miles an hour
is no hard task for either of them. The
gadwale-yOu don't know what gad- I
vale is, I'll bet. | thought not. Well, /
it's q duck that doesn't get east very
often, but is very well known in the /,
west. 1t is something ike a mallard, |
only harder TO shoot, because it is not /.
50 unsuspecting as the mallard. The |
gadwele is something of a daisy, too, on I
the fly, and will win money for you
every time, if you bet IT can make its
ninety miles an hour.
MAY be you wouldn't think that a /
goose could almost double discount the /
fastest fast express train that runs ON /
our railroads, but it can every time. /
mean wild goose. It has big, heavy /
body to carry, but 1t manages to glide
from one feeding ground To another I
with a suddenness that is a caution to I
wing shots. To see flock of hOnkers I
moving along, 80 high up that they seem
to be scraping their backs against the
sky, you'd never believe they were tTd- |
yelling between eighty and hundred
miles an hour, but they are The wild !
goose never has any time To fool away, /.
but his gait is always a business one. !
The brOadbill duck is the only wild fowl |
that can push the canvasback on the |
wing. Let broadbill and a canvas |
back each do his best for an hour and |
the brOadbill will only come out ten |
miles behind. A hundred and ten miles /.
an hour can be done by the brOadbill, |
and he, consequently makes mark for /
a shotgun that a greeEhOrn wouldn't hit |
once in twenty seven years.