Grouse

Grouse are heavily built like other Galliformes such as chickens. Their legs are feathered to the toes, and in winter the toes too have feathers or small scales on the sides, an adaptation for walking on snow and burrowing into it for shelter.

Did You Know?
The male Black Grouse's tail feathers are a traditional ornament for hats in areas such as Scotland and the Alps. Folk dances from the Alps to the North American prairies imitate the displays of lekking males.

Guinea Fowl

This is a family of insect and seed-eating, ground-nesting birds that resemble partridges, but with featherless heads. Guinea fowl are native to Africa, but the Helmeted Guinea fowl has been domesticated and both feral and wild-type birds have been introduced elsewhere

Did You Know?
In the early days of the European colonisation of North America, the native Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) was confused with this species. This led to the English name of the American bird, since Turkey and Guinea were equally far-off and exotic places.

Mallard

The Mallard inhabits most wetlands, including parks, small ponds and rivers, and usually feeds by dabbling for plant food or grazing. It is highly gregarious outside of the breeding season and will form large flocks which are known as a sord.

Did You Know?
The Mallard is the ancestor of almost all of the varieties of domestic ducks.

Partridge

Partridges are birds belonging to the pheasant family. These are medium-sized birds, intermediate between larger pheasants and smaller quails. Partridges are native to Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Partridges are ground-nesting seed-eaters.

Did You Know?
According to Greek legend, the first partridge appeared when Daedalus threw his nephew, Perdix, off a roof in a fit of jealous rage.

Pheasant

Pheasant males are usually larger than females and have longer tails. They typically eat seeds and some insects.  Pheasants are one of the UK's most colourful birds. They were introduced here by the Romans, and are now widespread.

Did You Know?
There are 35 species of pheasant. The best-known is the Common Pheasant, which is widespread throughout the world.

Quail

Quails are small, plump terrestrial birds. They are seed eaters but will also take insects and similar small prey. They nest on the ground and are capable of short, rapid bursts of flight.

Did You Know?
Often the only indication of the Quail's presence is the distinctive "wet-my-lips" repetitive song of the male. The call is uttered mostly in the mornings, evenings and sometimes at night.

Snipe

Snipe search for invertebrates in the mud with a "sewing-machine" action of their long bills. Most have distinctive displays, usually given at dawn or dusk.

Did You Know?
The difficulties involved in hunting snipe gave rise to the term "sniper", referring to a skilled anti-personnel military sharpshooter. Colonial American snipe hunters used some of the earliest versions of a telescopic sight invented by American statesman and inventor Benjamin Franklin.

Teal

The Common Teal belongs to the "true" teals, a group of small Anas dabbling ducks closely related to the Mallard. It nests on the ground, near water and under cover. The pairs form in the winter quarters and arrive on the breeding grounds together, starting about March. The breeding starts some weeks thereafter, not until May in the most northerly locations. The nest is a deep hollow lined with dry leaves and down feathers, built in dense vegetation near water.

Did You Know?
The Common Teal is the smallest dabbling duck alive, at 34?43 cm in length and with an average weight of 360 g in drakes and 340 g in hens.

Woodcock

As their common name implies, woodcocks are woodland birds. They feed at night or in the evenings, searching for invertebrates in soft ground with their long bills. This habit and their unobtrusive plumage make it difficult to see them when they are resting in the day.

Did You Know?
With its eyes set farther back on the head than those of any other bird, a woodcock has a 360° field of vision.

Wood Pigeon

Most of the Woodpigeon's diet is vegetable, taken from open fields or gardens and lawns; young shoots and seedlings are favoured, and it will take grain, as well as certain fruits and berries. It breeds in trees in woods, parks and gardens, laying two white eggs in a simple stick nest which hatch after 17 to 19 days. Wood pigeons seem to have a preference for trees near roadways and rivers.

Did You Know?
The Wood Pigeon is the most common bird in the United Kingdom, with numbers having doubled from 2008 to 2009.

Goat

Goats are one of the oldest domesticated species. Goats have been used for their milk, meat, hair, and skins over much of the world. Goats are reputed to be willing to eat almost anything. While goats will not actually eat inedible material, they are browsing animals and will chew on and taste just about anything resembling plant matter in order to decide whether it is good to eat, including cardboard and paper labels from tin cans.

Did You Know?
According to Norse mythology, the god of thunder, Thor, has a chariot that is pulled by the goats Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr. At night when he sets up camp, Thor eats the meat of the goats, but takes care that all bones remain whole. Then he wraps the remains up, and in the morning, the goats always come back to life to pull the chariot.

Hare

Hares are very fast-moving. The European Brown Hare can run at speeds of up to 45 mph. Hares do not bear their young below ground in a burrow, rather in a shallow depression or flattened nest of grass called a form.

Did You Know?
In Irish folklore the hare is often seen as an evil creature, principally associated with witches.

Rabbit

Rabbits are herbivores who feed by grazing on grass, forbs, and leafy weeds. In consequence, their diet contains large amounts of cellulose, which is hard to digest More than half the world's rabbit population resides in North America. In one season a single female rabbit can produce as many as 800 children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Did You Know?
In Japanese tradition, rabbits live on the Moon where they make mochi, the popular snack of mashed sticky rice. This comes from interpreting the pattern of dark patches on the moon as a rabbit standing on tiptoes on the left pounding on a usu, a Japanese mortar.

Red Deer

Venison tends to have a finer texture and is leaner than comparable cuts of beef. However, like beef, leaner cuts can be tougher as well. Venison cooked beyond medium rare will take on a heavy gamey flavour. In many areas this increased demand has led to a rise in the number of deer farms. What was once considered a meat for unsophisticated rural dwellers has become as exotic as ostrich meat to urbanites.

Did You Know?
Venison can describe meat of any mammal killed by hunting. It was originally applied to any animal from the families deer, hares, wild pigs, but its usage is now almost entirely restricted to the flesh of various species of deer.