Animal

Collective nouns for animals –
courtesy of the Macquarie Dictionary

During a writing course I attended at work, our instructor displayed the following medieval listing of Collective Nouns for animals. I thought that the listing was extremely interesting and for some reason, only known to me, thought I would publish this on the web-site.

"A number of medieval sources provided lists of collective nouns for various animals and birds, purportedly as technical hunting terms through clearly fanciful in origin. Whether these terms were ever actually used by hunters is doubtful, but a few have in the end become part of the standard English vocabulary (gaggle of gees, pride of lions). Scholars from the 19^th century onwards have been diligent in reproducing these medieval lists, with greater or lesser accuracy, so that many of these terms are today still known as "proper" terms for a group of some stated animal or bird; even though their use outside of 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 t hat despite the existence of these collective nouns, ordinarily a group of plovers, starlings or owls will most likely be denotes, in both spoken and written English, but 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"

Animal	Collective Noun	Animal	Collective Noun
apes	shrewdness	gnats	cloud
badgers	cete	goats	trip
bats	colony	goldfinches	charm
bears	sloth (or sleuth)	gorillas	band
bees	bike; drift; hive; swarm	grouse	brace (two); covey; pack
birds	colony (roosting in large numbers); dissimulations (small birds); drift (in flight); flight (in flight); flock; parcel; rush (migrating)	hares	down; huske; leash; (three)
boars	singular	hawks	cast (a pair released after game); kettle (riding a thermal); leash (three)
bottle-nosed whales	grind	herons	seige; (or sedge, or sege)
buffalo	gang; herd	horses	harras; span (a team of two)
butterflies	flight; wing	hounds	brace (two) cry; kennel; leash (three); mute; sute
cats	clowder	insects (flying)	cloud; swarm
cattle	drift; drove (when being driven); herd; mob	jellyfish	smack
chicks	cletch; clutch; brood; peep	kangaroos	flock; mob; troop
choughs	clattering	kittens	kindle
colts	rag; rake	lapwings	desert
coots	covert	larks	bevy; exaltation; exalting
crows	murder	leopards	leap
cubs	litter	lions	pride
curs	cowardness	magpies	tidings
deer	brace (two); leash (three)	mallards	sord; sute
dogs	brace (two); leash (three); pack	martens	richesse
dolphins	herd; pod; school	moles	labour
donkeys	herd; pace	monkeys	troop
doves	dole; (or dule)	mules	barren; span (a team of two); string
ducks	paddling (on water); raft (on water)	nightingales	watch
dunlins	fling (in flight)	owls	parliament
elephants	herd	oxen	yoke (two yoked together)
elk	gang	partridges	covey
falcons	cast (a pair released after game)	peacocks	muster; ostentation
ferrets	business	pheasants	bevy; bouquet (when flushed); nye
finches	charm; chirm	pigeons	kit
fish	run (moving upstream for spawning); school; shoal	plovers	congregation; wing
foxes	earth; leash (three); skulk	ponies	string
fowl	plump; skein (in flight); trip	pups	litter
frogs	knot	quails	bevy
fur seals	harem (belonging to one male)	rabbits	berry
geese	gaggle; skein (in flight); wedge (in V formation in flight)	racehorses	string
giraffes	herd	ravens	unkindness
roes	bevy	rhinoceroses	crash
rooks	building; parliaments	swine	drift; sounder (wild); trip (tame)
ruffs	hill	teal	spring; string
seals	plump; spring	toads	knot
sheep	fold; mob; wing	trout	hover
sheldrake	dopping	turkeys	rafter
snipe	walk; wisp	vipers	nest
sparrows	host	waterfowl	bunch; knob (less than 30); raft (on water)
squirrels	dray (a nest)	whales	gam; herd; plump; pod
starlings	murmuration	wolves	pack; rout
swans	wedge (in V formation in flight)	woodcocks	fall
		woodpeckers	descension

I had no idea what some of the above animals were. The list below provides some insight.

choughs	Bird (Coracia Pyrrhocorax) – of the Crow family with red feet and bill. Found in sea-cliffs
coots	Any of the various swimming and diving birds of the genus Fulica. Web-footed bird inhabiting edges of lakes and still rivers, with base of bill extended to form broad white plate on forehead
curs	Worthless, low-bred or snappish dog
dunlins	Small reddish-backed migratory wading bird (Erolia alpina schinzii). Abundant on seacoasts of Europe and America.
gnats	Small two-wing biting or irritating fly
lapwings	Bird of the plover family
mallards	Wild duck (Anas boscas)
martens	Name given to several birds of the swallow family
roes	Small European and West Asiatic deer
rooks	Black raucous-voiced European and West Asiatic bird of the crow family
ruffs	Bird of the sandpiper family
sheldrake	Wild duck
snipe	Wading bird (Gallimago)