heath hen
Americannoun
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an American gallinaceous bird, Tympanuchus cupido cupido, closely related to the prairie chicken and once a common inhabitant of coastal heaths from New Hampshire to Virginia: extensively hunted, especially during the Colonial period, the heath hen has been regarded extinct since 1932.
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the female of the black grouse.
noun
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another name for greyhen
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a recently extinct variety of the prairie chicken
Etymology
Origin of heath hen
First recorded in 1585–95
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
McGrain’s subjects have included, among others, the passenger pigeon, the great auk, the Labrador duck, the heath hen, and the Carolina parakeet.
From The New Yorker • Nov. 14, 2018
That’s because wiping out the passenger pigeon, the heath hen, the Tasmanian tiger, and so on, as regrettable as these events were, wasn’t the real mistake.
From Slate • Dec. 1, 2014
Like Martha before him, Booming Ben—and the heath hen along with him—vanished into the evolutionary ether, mostly likely sometime in the spring of 1932.
From Slate • Dec. 1, 2014
“Once There Were Billions: Vanished Birds of North America” An exhibition of specimens and illustrations of extinct birds includes the passenger pigeon, heath hen, great auk and Carolina parakeet.
From Washington Post
So far as I know, no report of the examination has been made, but Dr. Field himself examined a few of the stomachs and found the remains of the heath hen in some.
From Our Vanishing Wild Life Its Extermination and Preservation by Hornaday, William Temple
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
