The baberek appears to be yet another name for the goat-sucker or night-jar (Caprimulgus
macrurus, Horsf.) Dawn of History, page 171. ↑
16
As it appears that in Europe, at all events, the legend of the Wild Huntsman and his dogs (or
Gabriel’s Hounds, as they are often called) is explained by the cries of wild geese flying
overhead on dark nights, it seems most convenient to give the Malay legend in connection with
the birds with which the Malays associate him. The explanation to which I refer is to be found
in Prof. Newton’s Dictionary of Birds (1893), sub voce “Gabble-ratchet.” I quote in extenso:—
“In many parts of England, but especially in Yorkshire, the cries of some kind of wild goose,^17
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 mediæval glossaries, is connected with gabbara or gabares, a word meaning a corpse
(cp. Way, Promptorium Parvulorum, p. 320, sub voce ‘Lyche’); while ratchet is undoubtedly
the same as the Anglo-Saxon ræce 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.... 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. (Cp. Atkinson, Notes and Queries,
ser. 4, vii. 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 night-jar, but satisfactory proof of that statement seems to be wanting.”^18 ↑
17
Prof. Newton here has a note: “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 discrepancy may to some extent depend on
distance.” ↑
18
Possibly the sounds made by the geese might be attributed to the night-jar by peasants through
the latter’s appearing at the time they were made. It is curious that the Malays as well should
connect the night-jar with the Wild Huntsman. ↑