Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1889-08-08
SWIFT ON THE WING.
An Express Train Slow Compared
With the Wild Duck and Goose.


"The gadwale-but there, it isn't
likely at all that you know what a gad-
vale is" said an observant wild fowl
hunter. "The gadwale is duck. 1t
is a wild duck that doesn't get East very
often, but is q familiar fowl in the West.
/ was Just about to remark that the CAD
vale is a bird that can travel nearly a
hundred miles while the fastest railroad
train is going fl ty, and yet it is slow on the
wing compared with canvasback duck,
the broadbiIl, or even the wild goose.
l have held my watch ON about every
kind of wild fowl there is, and know to
dot Just how much space any OF them
can get over in an hour. The canvas
back can distance the whole wild fowl
family, ii it lays itself out to do it.
When the canvasback is out taking
things easy he joys along through the
air at the rate of eighty miles an hour.
If he has business somewhere, though,
and has to get there, he can put two
miles behind him every minute, and do
it easy. III you don't believe that, just
fire square at the leader in a string of
canvasbacks that are out ON a business
trip some time when You have the
chance. Duck shot, propelled by the
proper quantity Of powder, travels pretty
quick itself, but if your charge brings
down any member of that string Of
ducks at all it will be the fifth or sixth
one back from the leader, and I'll bet
anything there is on it. If you have
the faintest idea i'll the world OF drop
ping the leader you must aim at space
not less than ten feet ahead OF him.
Then the chances are that he will run
plump against your shot. When he
drops you will find him quarter OF a
mile or so on, because even after he is
dead he can't stop short of that distance.
"The mallard duck is lazy. He
seldom cares TO cover more than mile
a minute, but he can if he wants to.
His ordinary every day style Of getting
along over the country takes him from
place to place at about 45-mile an hour
rate. The black duck can fly neck and
neck with the mallard, and neither one
can give the other Odds Ii the pin tail
widgeon and wood duck should start in
to race either a mallard or a black duck
il would be safe to bet on either one.
But if redhead duck should enter the
race you can give big odds on him, for
he can spin off his ninety miles an hour
as easy as you can walk around the
block, and can do it all day. He would
be left far behind, though, by the blue
winged or the green winged teal. These
two fowl can fly side by side for 100
miles and close the race in dead heat
in an hour, and appear to make no hard
task of it. The broadbill duck is the
only fowl that flies that can push the
canvasback on the wing. Let a broad
bill and a canvasback each do his best
for an hour, and the broadbil will only
come ont about ten miles behind. One
hundred and ten miles an hour can be
done by the broadbill, and he conse-
quently makes mark for shotgun
that pretty good gunner wouldn't be
apt to hit once in lifetime.
The wild goose is an astonisher on
the fly. 1t has a big heavy body to
carry, and to see it waddling on tho
ground you wouldn't suppose it could
get away from you very fast on the
wing. But it manages to glide from one
feeding place to another with sudden
ness that is aggravating to the best OF
wing shots. To see flock OF honkers'
moving along, so high up that they
seem to be sweeping the cobwebs off of
the sky, you probably wouldn't dare to
bet that they we're travelling at the rate
of ninety miles an hour, but that is
Just what they are doing, any hour in
the day. The wild goose never fools
any time away. His gait is always
business one. - New York Sun.