GABBLE-RATCHET—GADWALL 297 
G 
GABBLE-RATCHET. In many parts of England, but 
especially in Yorkshire, the cries of some kind of Wild Gooss,! 
when flying 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 gabble is said to be a corruption of Gabriel, 
and that, according to some medizval glossaries, is connected with 
gabbara or gabares, a word meaning a corpse (cf. Way, Promptorium 
Parvulorum, p. 302, sub voce “ Lyche”); while ratchet is undoubtedly 
the same as the Anglo-Saxon racc and Middle English racche 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, vu. pp. 439, 440, and Cleveland Glossary, 
p- 203 ; Herrtage, Catholicon Anglicum, p. 147; Robinson, 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 Linneeus Anas strepera; but, from 
1 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. Jrel. iii. p. 59), though some 
hearers liken them to the yelping of puppies. The discrepancy may to some 
extent depend on distance. 
2 Webster gives the etymology gad well=‘‘go about well”—which is non- 
sense. The late Dr. R. G. Latham suggested that it is taken from the syllables 
quedul, 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 Rerum naturalium Britannicarum, p. 180), 
had ‘‘Gaddel,” saying that it was so called by bird-dealers. The synonym 
‘‘Gray,” given by Willughby and Ray, is doubtless derived from the general 
colour of the species, and has its analogue in the Icelandic Grdénd, applied 
