GABBLE-RATCHET— GADWALL 297 



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GABBLE - KATCHET. In many parts of England, but 

 especially in Yorkshire, the cries of some kind of Wild GOOSE,^ 

 when flj^ing by night, are heard with dismay by those who do not 

 know the cause of them, and are attributed to " Gabriel's Hounds," 

 an expression equivalent to " Gabble-ratchet," a term often used 

 for them, as in this sense gobble is said to be a corruption of Gabriel, 

 and that, according to some mediaeval glossaries, is connected with 

 gabbara or gabares, a word meaning a corpse (cf. Way, Frompforium 

 Parvulorum, p. 302, sub voce "Lyche"); while ratchet is undoubtedly 

 the same as the Anglo-Saxon rsecc and Middle English ra,cche or 

 rache, a dog that hunts by scent and gives tongue. Hence the 

 expression would originally mean "corpse-hounds," and possibly 

 has to do with legends, such as that of the Wild Huntsman, on 

 which it would be out of place here to dwell. The sounds are at 

 times very marvellous, not to say impressive, when heard, as they 

 almost invariably are, on a pitch-dark night, and it has more than 

 once happened within the writer's knowledge that a flock of Geese, 

 giving utterance to them, has continued for some hours to circle 

 over a town or village in such a way as to attract the attention of 

 the most unobservant of its inhabitants, and inspire with terror 

 those among them who are prone to superstition {cf. Atkinson, 

 Notes and Queries, ser. 4, vii. pp. 439, 440, and Cleveland Glossary, 

 p. 203 ; Herrtage, Catholicon Anglicum, p. 147; Eobinson, Glossary 

 Whitby (Engl. Dial. Soc), p. 74 ; and Addy, Glossary Sheffield (Engl. 

 Dial. Soc), p. 83). Mr. Charles Swainson {Prov. Names Br. B. 

 p. 98), gives "Gabble-Ratchet" as a name of the NIGHTJAR; but 

 satisfactory proof of that statement seems to be wanting. 



GADWALL, a word of obscure origin,^ the common English 

 name of the Duck, called by Linnaeus Amis strepera ; but, from 



^ Presumably the Brant, on the rare occasions when, losing its way, it comes 

 inland, for the call-notes proceeding from a flock of this species curiously resemble 

 the sound of hounds in full cry (Thompson, B. Irel. iii. p. 59), though some 

 hearers liken them to the yelping of puppies. The discrepancj' may to some 

 €xtent depend on distance. 



- Webster gives the etymology grati well =" go about well " — which is non- 

 sense. The late Dr. R. G. Latham suggested that it is taken from the syllables 

 qicedul, of the Latin querquedula, a Teal. The spelling "Gadwall" seems to be 

 first found in Willughby in 1676, and has been generally adopted by later 

 writers ; but in 1667 Merrett {Pinax Rcrur/i naturalium Britannicarum, p. 180), 

 had "Gaddel," saying that it was so called by bird-dealers. The synonym 

 " Graj'," given by Willughby and Ray, is doubtless derived from the general 

 colour of the species, and has its analogue in the Icelandic GrMnd, applied 



