Thus the expression 'flat as a flounder'. I've caught 'em; weird-looking things. Good eating, though.

Let me add my thanks, dxb--a lovely image indeed.

I had always thought that the term game bird applied to any bird that was legal to hunt; however, an accepted sense does seem to be that it refers to birds that are raised to be hunted. I have to say that here, hunters of game birds are not necessarily rich. My uncle and cousin on the farm were the opposite of rich. Mostly they, and my father when we were down there, hunted truly wild birds, primarily quail and dove. Only once to my knowledge did they hunt game birds that had been raised for it, and that was when my uncle the doctor brought some in. I shot one of those, as a matter of fact--a dove, I think. And there certainly wasn't anybody to pluck and dress them for us, either.