Feather in your bonnet

[Nathan]

It's always good news when stocks rebound and conservation efforts are successful. Thanks for the update on that, Jock. Singlemalt, I remember seeing grouse and partridge in Cape Breton and although I've never had the pleasure, being an avid angler but not a hunter, I understand that you're correct and they make for delicious eating.

[Jock Scot]

Just to fill in the gaps of your knowledge on black grouse, we know that the male of the species is called a black cock and what might not be known, the female is called a grey hen. The far more numerous Red Grouse, think grouse claw kilt pins and brooches, are only to be found within the confines of the British Isles.

[Singlemalt]

It's always good news when stocks rebound and conservation efforts are successful. Thanks for the update on that, Jock. Singlemalt, I remember seeing grouse and partridge in Cape Breton and although I've never had the pleasure, being an avid angler but not a hunter, I understand that you're correct and they make for delicious eating.

Probably most of what you saw in Cape Breton were Ruffed Grouse a somewhat different but even more tasty cousin of the Spruce Grouse. They are true grouse but in most of eastern Canada and New England where they are the most common native game bird they are commonly called partridge but actually that is a different family of birds which are not native to North America. It all gets more confusing as some European birds have been introduced here and now reproduce naturally like pheasants and Grey (Hungarian) Partridge.

[Nathan]

Maybe... People just called them Grouse. I was told pheasants were similar but not the same though I don't recall ever getting a clear view of a pheasant in the wild.

[Nathan]

I should have just asked my mother before starting this thread. Here she is at age 7 when she was in either the MacDonald Girls Pipe Band or the MacDougall Girls Pipe Band in Glace Bay, Cape Breton. She played in both.