Akademik

valued as a game bird in eastern United States and Canada

: a No. American grouse (Bonasa umbellus) valued as a game bird in wooded parts of the United States and Canada whose male is about 17 inches long, is varied with rufous, black, and gray and has a dark band on the tail and tufts of large glossy black feathers on the sides of the neck, and is noted for drumming with its wings in the breeding season — compare partridge, pheasant

a North American grouse, Bonasa umbellus, having a tuft of black feathers on each side of the neck. See illus. under grouse.

[1745-55, Amer.]

ruffed grouse noun

A N American game bird (Bonasa umbellus) with neck feathers that can be extended into a ruff

Main Entry: ↑ruff

ruffed grouse,

a game bird of North America with a tuft of gleaming black feathers on each side of the neck and a fan-shaped tail. It is called a partridge in New England and a pheasant in the southern United States.

n. a North American woodland grouse that has a black ruff on the sides of the neck. ● Bonasa umbellus, family Tetraonidae (or Phasianidae)