Definition
In English law, heath fowl — principally the black grouse (Tetrao tetrix) — as distinguished from "red game," such as the common grouse (Tetrao scoticus). The distinction was a term of art in English game law, determining which birds fell under specific statutory protections, preservation seasons, and licensing requirements governing the taking of game on English and Scottish heaths and moors.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): The black grouse; a species of large game bird native to moorland habitats across northern and central Europe.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Not separately defined; encompassed within general usage of "game" as wild animals hunted for sport or food.
Editorial note: The common meaning and the legal meaning are nearly identical in referent — both point to the black grouse — but the legal meaning carried classification weight. In English game law, placement of a bird in the "black game" category as opposed to "red game" determined which statutes applied to its taking, which seasons governed, and what penalties attached to poaching. The word "game" in the legal phrase is therefore a term of art, not merely a descriptor.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working in historical English or Scottish property, land, and game law will encounter "black game" in manorial records, lease agreements, poaching prosecutions, and parliamentary materials dealing with game preservation. Several points require care:
First, this is an English law term with no meaningful American legal counterpart. It will not appear in U.S. federal or state legal sources outside of historical quotation. Researchers searching American corpus sources for "black game" will need to distinguish this usage from unrelated colloquial or slang appearances of the phrase.
Second, the red game / black game distinction tracks a classification framework embedded in English game statutes, most notably the Game Act 1831 (1 & 2 Will. 4, c. 32), which explicitly enumerated protected species. Researchers working with pre-1831 materials should account for the earlier, more fragmented statutory scheme, where the same birds were regulated under different legislative instruments and the classification terminology was less standardized.
Third, "black game" appears in lease covenants and conveyancing documents where sporting rights over land are reserved to a landlord or granted to a tenant. A covenant preserving "black game" rights operated differently from one covering "red game" or "all game," and courts occasionally construed these distinctions in disputes over sporting rights.
Historical Dictionary Support
Both editions of Black's Law Dictionary provide identical, minimal entries: heath fowl, contrasted with red game such as grouse. The brevity reflects the term's narrow, technical character — it required definition for American lawyers encountering English authorities, not because it had any independent American application. Neither edition supplies the statutory framework that gave the classification its operative meaning, which limits the entries' usefulness for anything beyond identification of the term.
Notably, neither edition addresses the Game Act 1831 or its predecessor statutes, leaving the researcher without the statutory context needed to understand why the distinction mattered legally. Historical sources such as Chitty's Treatise on the Game Laws (1812) and later commentaries on the 1831 Act provide the fuller picture that the dictionary entries omit.
Jurisdictional Note
Strictly an English and Scottish law term. The classification derives from English game statutes and has no direct equivalent in American, Canadian, or other common law jurisdictions. Researchers working in Irish legal history should note that parallel but distinct game law regimes applied in Ireland, where the terminology sometimes differed.