The Collaborative International Dictionary
spike-tail
Pintail \Pin"tail`\, n.
(Zo["o]l.) A northern duck ( Dafila acuta), native of both continents. The adult male has a long, tapering tail. Called also gray duck, piketail, piket-tail, spike-tail, split-tail, springtail, sea pheasant, and gray widgeon.
(Zo["o]l.) The sharp-tailed grouse of the great plains and Rocky Mountains ( Pedioc[ae]tes phasianellus); -- called also pintailed grouse, pintailed chicken, springtail, and sharptail.
Usage examples of "spike-tail".
It was the spike-tailed kind, about a yard long, with an eggplant-purple shell and a bristling arrangement of slender spines along the margins.