Game birds

Game or quarry is any animal hunted for sport or for food. The type and range of animals hunted for food varies in different parts of the world. In some countries, game is classified, including legal classification with respect to licences required, as either "small game" or "large game".

Game or quarry is any animal hunted for sport or for food.

The term game arises in medieval hunting terminology by the late 13th century and is particular to English, from the generic meaning of Old English gamen (Germanic ) "joy, amusement, sport, merriment".

Quarry in the generic meaning is early modern (first recorded 1610), in the more specific sense "bird targeted in falconry" late 14th and 15th centuries as quirre "entrails of deer placed on the hide and given to the hunting-dogs as a reward", from Old French cuiriee "spoil, quarry" (ultimately Latin "hide"), but influenced by corée "viscera, entrails" (Late Latin "entrails", from cor "heart").

Unlike many commercial meat products, the meat from wild animals (especially herbivores), when prepared correctly, is very healthy and nutrient-dense. This is primarily due to the animal's natural diet and healthy lifestyle. It can be virtually assured that the animal was never bred or raised in unsanitary conditions, fed a diet of grain, confined to a cage, or injected with any artificial hormones. On the other hand, the act of killing the animal for its meat is more apparent and can only be done within reasonable regulations to ensure continuity of the animal species and its meat resource.

Small game includes small animals, such as rabbits, pheasants, geese or ducks. Large game includes animals like deer, moose, and bear. Big game is a term sometimes used interchangeably with large game although in other contexts it refers to large, typically African, mammals (specifically "big five game" or "dangerous game") which are hunted mainly for trophies in safaris.

...
Wikipedia