ˈheath-hen
a. The female of the heath-cock; the Grey-hen. b. Applied in N. America to species of grouse.
| 1591 Shuttleworth Acc. (Chetham Soc.) 66 A lade of Alexander Bradshawes w{supc}{suph} broughte hethe henes iiijd. 1670 D. Denton Descr. New York (1845) 5 Wild Fowl there is great store of, as Turkies, Heath-Hens, Quails. 1728–46 Thomson Spring 699 O'er the trackless waste The heath-hen flutters. 1893 Newton Dict. Birds, Heath-cock and Heath-hen, originally names by which..the Black-cock and Grey-hen were called; but on the North American continent..applied to one or more species of grouse. |