Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The female heathbird; the hen of the black grouse.
- noun One of several American grouse, as the pinnated, ruffed, or Canada grouse. Also
heath-cock .
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Anne tales of our hunting, and so forth, but she would not listen a word till I threw in something of King Arthur, and then I warrant she would sit still as a heath-hen when the hawk is in the heavens.
Anne of Geierstein 2008
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The heath-hen (_tetrao cupido_), or as it is here called, the
A Ramble of Six Thousand Miles through the United States of America
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They would have mistaken the track of the moose for that of a wild cat; they would have thought the tread of a land-tortoise the trail of the grey snake; they would have killed an owl and feasted upon it, for a heath-hen.
Traditions of the North American Indians, Vol. 1 (of 3) James Athearn Jones
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