Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1889-04-25
The Swift Flight of Wild Ducks.

Wilmington News.
While reporter talked to a promine Mt
member of the Wawset gun club yesterday
the conversation turned on the speed of
wild ducks, a subject in which the gun
ners of this city seem particularly interes-
ted, and one on which there is some diver
sity of opinion. The member said:
II have held my watch on several kinds
of ducks and geese, but the main part of
what am going to tell you comes from
several old hunters who have favored me
with their experience, and one of these old
timers in letter says: L can tell you Just
to the sixty third part of dot how much
space any one of the can get over in an
hour. There is not railroad train that
can hold candle to one side of the slowest
duck that flies.
The canvasback can distance the whole
duck family, if it lays itself out to do it.
When this duck is taking things easy, en-
joying little run around the block, as it
were, it goes through the air at the rate of
about eighty miles an hour. If it has
busin ess somewhere and has to get there,
it puts two miles back of it every minute,
and does it easily. If you don't believe
this, Just fire square at the leader in q
a
business cruise some time. Duck shot
travels pretty fast, but if you happen to
hit one, You see if it is not the fifth or sixth
one back of the drake or leader. A drake
does not always lead, but it generally does
if there is one in the flock; if there are
more they will seldom take the lead. If
you wish to bring down the leader you
must aim at a space of a least eight feet
ahead Of him, and if he falls you will find
him long distance, probably two or three
squares off.
"The mallard is slow one; it is all he
can do TO make mile minute, but he
can do it if he wants TO. His regular rate
is about As miles per hour.
THE black duck is slow coach. He is
about as good as the mallard, and the fin
tail widgeon and woodcock cannot do much
better. The red head can 60 easily and
make 80 miles an hour as long as he likes,
all day if necessary. The blue-winged
teal and its beautiful cousin, the green
wiged teal, can fly side by side for 100
miles an hour.
"The gadwale, you see them here very
'eldom, though we'll known further west
IN the Allegheny river and at Kishammock,
Oh looking like the mallard, is
marter duck and harder to shoot It can
make 80 miles an hour and not try hard.
MAY be you think a goose can't fly. Why,
t can double the speed Of the fastest train
IN any of our railroads. OF course mean
! wild goose. Well, it has big corporation,
,ut it can get from feeding ground to feed
ng ground so suddenly that it fools our
,est wing shots.
IF you see flock of honkers moving |
long so high up that they seem to be
craping the sky with their backs, you
would not think that they were making |
lose on hundred miles an hour. but they |
re. The wild goose is not much on foot,
'ut it means business every time.
"The broad bill goose comes next to the |
anvas back in speed. Put the two to-
ether and in an hour the broad bill would |
lot be more than ten miles beQind.
This information has been derived from |
experience and correspondence with life
ong gunners, and any gunner will tell you
bat what have said hits the mark very
lose"