Definition of "sharp-tailed" [sharp-tailed]

• In ornithology
• Having a sharp-pointed tail: as, the sharp-tailed grouse, Pediœcetes phasianellus or colwmbianus, the common prairie-hen of northwestern parts of America. See cut under Pediœcetes.
• Having acute or acuminate tail-feathevs: specifically said of a finch, Ammodromus caudacutus, a small sparrow of the marshes of eastern parts of the United States and Canada, and of a sandpiper, Actodromas acuminata, of Alaska and Asia.

The Century Dictionary (Public Domain)

• "Where early travelers saw sharp-tailed grouse, bison, bighorn sheep, grizzly bears, numerous beaver and even wolverines, today they see dust, feral horses, and noxious weeds including cheatgrass, halogeton and Russian thistle."
• "In Montana you cannot shoot a sharp-tailed grouse in the C.M. Russell Game Range with a lead shotshell!"
• "I saw a sharp-tailed grouse fly into a barb-wire fence one time in northeastern Montana and kill itself."