Quick links
fool hen
DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.
the spruce partridge and certain related species of grouse.
Quotations
1760
[They fare best towards Gabarus, where there is plenty of game, and where the woodcocks are so extremely tame, that you may knock them down with stones.]
1872
The spruce partridge or fool hen, that is oftener knocked over with a stick than shot.
1921
". . . They are fool hens--Franklin's grouse--and that means that they'll set all day and let you pepper at 'em. . . ."
1956
The fool hen, a kind of grouse, was so called because it would sit quite still while a hunter came up close with a long thin stick on the end of which was a noose of fine sinew. This noose he would slip gently over the sitting fool hen's neck and pull the bird down.
1965
It wasn't the least bit like grabbing a fluttering fool hen.