Collective nouns for animals
A number of medieval sources provided lists of collective nouns for animals and birds, purportedly as technical hunting terms, although clearly fanciful in origin. Whether these terms were ever actually used by hunters is doubtful, but a few have in the end become a part of the standard English vocabulary, and scholars from the 19th century onwards have been diligent in reproducing these medieval lists, with greater and less accuracy, so that many of these terms are today still known as the ‘proper’ terms for a group of some stated animal or bird, even though their use outside this limited domain is virtually non-existent.
In imitation of these medieval terms many new terms of a similar nature have been coined in recent times, such as a crash of rhinoceroses. It may be noted that despite the existence of these collective nouns, ordinarily a group of plovers, starlings or owls will most likely be denoted, in both spoken and written English, by the term flock and not congregation, murmuration or parliament. Actual evidence of these ‘proper’ terms in genuine use is either sketchy or non-existent. The list below includes many common standard English terms, such as a pod of whales and a pack of dogs, as well as more arcane terms such as a clowder of cats and a descension of woodpeckers.
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apes – shrewdness
badgers – cete
bats – colony
bears – sloth (or sleuth)
bees – bike; drift; hive; swarm
birds – colony (roosting in large numbers); dissimulation (small birds); drift (in flight); flight (in flight); flock; parcel; rush (migrating)
boars – singular
bottle-nosed whales – grind
buffalo – gang; herd
butterflies – flight; wing
cats – clowder
cattle – drift; drove (when being driven); herd; mob
chicks – cletch; clutch; brood; peep
choughs – clattering
colts – rag; rake
coots – covert
crows – murder
cubs – litter
curs – cowardness
deer – brace (two); leash (three)
dogs – brace (two); leash (three); pack
dolphins – herd; pod; school
donkeys – herd; pace
doves – dole (or dule)
ducks – paddling (on water); raft (on water)
dunlins – fling (in flight)
elephants – herd
elk – gang
falcons – cast (a pair released after game)
ferrets – business
finches – charm; chirm
fish – run (moving upstream for spawning); school; shoal
foxes – earth; leash (three); skulk
fowl – plump; skein (in flight); trip
frogs – knot
fur seals – harem (belonging to one male)
geese – gaggle; skein (in flight); wedge (in V formation in flight)
giraffes – herd
gnats – cloud
goats – flock; trip
goldfinches – charm
gorillas – band
grouse – brace (two); covey; pack
hares – down; huske; leash (three)
hawks – cast (a pair released after game); kettle (riding a thermal); leash (three)
herons – siege (or sedge, or sege)
horses – harras; span (a team of two); string
hounds – brace (two); cry; kennel; leash (three); mute; sute
insects (flying) – cloud; swarm
jellyfish – smack
kangaroos – flock; mob; troop
kittens – kindle
lapwings – desert
larks – bevy; exaltation; exalting
leopards – leap
lions – pride
magpies – tidings
mallards – sord; sute
martens – richesse
moles – labour
monkeys – troop
mules – barren; span (a team of two); string
nightingales – watch
owls – parliament
oxen – yoke (two yoked together)
partridges – covey
peacocks – muster; ostentation
pheasants – bevy; bouquet (when flushed); nye
pigeons – kit
plovers – congregations; wing
ponies – string
porpoises – herd; pod; school
pups – litter
quails – bevy
rabbits – berry
racehorses – string
ravens – unkindness
rhinoceroses – crash
roes – bevy
rooks – building; parliament
ruffs – hill
seals – plump; spring
sheep – flock; fold; mob; wing
sheldrake – dropping
snipe – walk; wisp
sparrows – host
squirrels – dray (a nest)
starlings – murmuration
swans – wedge (in V formation in flight)
swine – drift; sounder (wild); trip (tame)
teal – spring; string
toads – knot
trout – hover
turkeys – rafter
vipers – nest
waterfowl – bunch; knob (less than 30); raft (on water)
whales – gam; herd; plump; pod
wolves – pack; rout
woodcocks – fall
woodpeckers – descension