List of collective nouns for birds

The standard collective noun for a group of birds of any type is a flock.[1]

For a number of individual birds, there exist collective nouns particular to the type of bird. Many of these collective nouns are fanciful and not in common use in English. The first known collection of specific names for collective groups of animals, including many birds, was published in 1486 in The Book of Saint Albans, in an essay on hunting attributed to Dame Juliana Berners.[2][3]

Other books that are good references for collective nouns and their etymology include A Mess of Iguanas... A Whoop of Gorillas by Alon Shulman[4] and An Exaltation of Larks by James Lipton.[5]

Contents

Standard English terms and terms following the Middle English tradition

Bird Collective noun Source/origin
Birds Flock Standard term
Birds (small) Dissimulation [2]
Bitterns Siege/sedge [2][6]
Chickens Peep/brood [1][2][7]
Choughs Clattering [1][2]
Coots Covert [1][2]
Cranes Herd [1][2]
Cranes Sedge [6]
Crows Murder [1]
Curlew Herd [1][2]
Dotterel Trip [1][6]
Doves Dole/dule [2][6]
Doves Flight [1]
Ducks Badling, or raft [2]
Goldfinches Charm [8]
Geese
(on the ground)		 Gaggle [6][8]
Geese
(in flight)		 Skein [1][8]
Goshawks Flight [2]
Guinea fowl Rasp [9]
Hawks (tame) Cast [2]
Hawks (tame) Lease [2]
Herons Siege/sedge [2][6]
Jackdaws Train [10]
Lapwings Deceit [6]
Lapwings Desert [1][2]
Larks Exaltation [2]
Magpies Tidings [2]
Mallards Suit/sute [1][2]
Mallards Sord [1][2]
Nightingales Watch [1][2]
Owls Parliament [6]
Parrots Pandemonium [11]
Partridges Covey [1][2]
Peacocks Muster [1][6]
Pheasants Nide [6]
Pheasants Nye [1][2]
Pigeons
(flying together)		 Kit [1]
Plovers Congregation [1][2]
Quail Bevy [1][2]
Quail Drift [1]
Ravens Unkindness [1][2]
Rooks Building [1][2]
Rooks Parliament [1]
Snipe Walk, or wisp [1]
Sparrows Host [1][2]
Starlings Murmuration [1][2]
Swallows Flight [1]
Swans Game [1]
Swans (in flight) Wedge [1]
Teal Spring [1][2]
Turtle doves Dole/dule [2]
Woodcocks Fall [1][2]
Wrens Herd [1][2]

Spurious, unverified and misapprehended terms

Bird Collective noun Source/origin
Birds Volery Originally an aviary, later the birds within[12]
Poultry Run Simply not a collective noun
Curlews Head Mistaken for herd
Doves Prettying Mistaken for pitying
Partridges Bew Possibly a mistake for bevy
Penguins Rookery, or raft Not a collective term, depends on location (land/sea)

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag "What do you call a group of ...?". Oxford Dictionaries. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/page/collectivenouns_us. Retrieved 2011-05-27. 
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af Berners, Dame Juliana (1881 reproduction) [First published 1486]. The Boke of Saint Albans. Introduction by William Blades. London: Elliot Stock. http://www.archive.org/details/bokeofsaintalban00bernuoft. Retrieved 2011-05-27. 
  3. ^ World Wide Words: Precision of Lexicographers
  4. ^ Shulman, Alon (2009). A Mess of Iguanas... A Whoop of Gorillas: An Amazement of Animal Facts. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 9781846142550. 
  5. ^ Lipton, James (1993) [First published 1968]. An Exaltation of Larks (3rd ed.). New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 0140170960. 
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Animal Congregations, or What Do You Call a Group of.....?". U.S. Geological Survey Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center. http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/about/faqs/animals/names.htm. Retrieved 2011-05-27. 
  7. ^ Bergford, Paul. "Collective Nouns for Birds". Palomar Audubon Society. http://palomaraudubon.org/collective.html. Retrieved 9 November 2011. 
  8. ^ a b c "AskOxford: G". archived copy of Collective Terms for Groups of Animals. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. http://replay.web.archive.org/20081020120740/http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/collective/g/. Retrieved 2011-05-27. 
  9. ^ Lieut.-Colonel B. G. Lynn-Allen (1951). Shot-gun and Sunlight - The Game Birds of East Africa. Batchworth Press. 
  10. ^ Gilbert White - The Natural History of Selborne London: N. Hailes, 1833. p. 163.
  11. ^ [1] parrotparrot.com
  12. ^ "volary" The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. OED Online. Oxford University Press. 4 April 2000 <Registration required, retrieved 22 January 2010.>

External links