Engl. | bale of turtles | (a sorrow) ð5.22. |
Engl. | band of swans | "bend", "bank" |
Engl. | bevy of quails | (a bevy is also a group of persons, of animals; cf. o.Fr. bevée "flock of birds") ð4.5.11. |
Engl. | body of coots | (a large quantity) ð4.5.18. |
Engl. | bouquet of pheasants | (a pheasant dish is presented as a "bouquet" on a table - or rather with a bouquet) |
Engl. | brace | of swans, of partridges (a pair) |
Engl. | brood | of chickens or any other birds |
Engl. | building of rooks |
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Engl. | bunch | of wigeons, of teals |
Engl. | cast of hawks | a couple or a small group of trained falcons (not meant as "a throwing" but see ð4.3.9.1.) |
Engl. | charm of goldfinches | (to charm,chorm,cherm or chirm is "to chirp, sing, warble, croon, hum, to chatter noisily; charm is "a confused intermingled song or hum of birds, a blended singing of birds, children etc." See Wright sub chirm, and ð5.2.8. |
Engl. | chevron of geese | (shape of the flock) |
Engl. | clamour of rooks | (acoust.) |
Engl. | clan of crows |
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Engl. | clattering of choughs | (acoust.) |
Engl. | cleehy of gulls | (imit.) |
Engl. | clucking of hens | ("clacking") |
Engl. | clutch | of ducks, of chickens or any other birds ("clatch") |
Engl. | colony | a gathering on nesting grounds |
Engl. | column of ducks |
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Engl. | company | of wigeons, of ducks, of partridges |
Engl. | congregation | of starlings. of plovers |
Engl. | covent of cooks | ("covert") a great quantity; Franç. covent "assembly" ð4.4.3. |
Engl. | covey | of grouse, partridges (a family party), Fr. couvée "clutch" |
Engl. | deceit of lapwings | ("desert") beguiling ? |
Engl. | descent of woodpeckers | (woodpeckers are solitary and usually climb trees upwards; therefore the name should be read descant (the Green Wodpecker is a noisy bird) |
Engl. | dissimulation of birds | (literary) |
Engl. | dole of dove ("dule") | a lamentation ð5.27. |
Engl. | doge of swallows | (dial. to doge = to move to and fro", Engl. to dodge) ("doyes" is a misreading) |
Engl. | dread of terns | "the unaccountable corporate flight of nesting colonies" Braidwood, p. 102, see ð6.3.2. |
Engl.n.Engl. | drift of birds | a drove, a flock |
Engl. | dopping of ducks | (from Dutch doper "dipper" dopen "to dip"; or perhaps dropping is correct and means "the action of dropping to the water", see plumb) |
Engl. | earie of eagle | (a nest) ð12.1. |
Engl. | eyrer of swan | ("eyrar") a nest ð12.1. |
Engl. | exaltation of lark | (poetic from its "exalted" singing) |
Engl. | fall of woodcock | (the act of falling after being shot) |
Engl. | fleet of ducklings |
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Engl. | flight | of swallows or any other birds |
Engl. | fling of dunlings | (of sandpipers, of birds) (to fling is "to fly in violent and irregular motion" ð6.2.12.) |
Engl. | flock | (of geese, curlews or any other birds or animals) ("flaag") ð6.2.11. |
Engl. | flush | (of ducks, mallards or any other birds) ð6.2.13. |
Engl. | gaggle of geese | (their gaggling) |
Engl.: Teviotdale | gale (or gail) of geese | from Gael.S. gal "wailing, loud noise" ð5.10. |
Engl. | game of swans | (not related to "play" but to game "lame" because of their awkward gait on land) |
Engl. | gathering | of starlings, or other birds |
Engl. | gulp of cormorant | (from its gluttony) |
Engl. | herd | of swans, curlews or other animals |
Engl. | hill of ruffs | (their place of display) |
Engl. | host of sparrow | (host = multitude, great number) |
Engl. | hover of crows |
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Engl. | knob of pochards | ("knot") a small company on the water ð4.1.18.3. |
Engl. | lag of geese | (a clamour, cf. gale, above and ð5.12.3.) |
Engl. | leash of wildfowl | "group of three" (?), meaning obscure |
Engl. | murmuration of starlings | (literary) |
Engl. | murder of crows | (poetic) |
Engl. | muster of peacock | (here meant as a display) |
Engl. | nye of pheasants | (literature 15th century) "nide" "rede" (for nede) "a nye", "an eye"! (nothing but a nest of pheasants, Fr. nid); should be pronounced "nee" like Fr. nid |
Engl. | ostentation of peacock | (literary) |
Engl. | pack | ("park") of grouse, of partridges a large party |
Engl. | paddling of ducks | ("puddling", "badeling", "badelynge") |
Engl. | parcel of oystercatchers | (a pack) |
Engl. | parliament of owl | (meant as a parley, because of the chattering of the Barn Owl) |
Engl. | pitying of dove | (poetic, from its doleful cooing) |
Engl. | play of gulls | ("their circling or dipping over a dense mass of fry" Braidwood, p. 102) |
Engl. | plump | of ducks, of wildfowl (a plumb ð10.6.) |
Engl. | raft | of ducks, of teals; a rafter of turkeys (raft is a large and mottley collection of...) |
Engl. | rush of pochards | a flock, cf. Rh.Romansh rotscha d'utschels "flock of birds", Franç. reg. érusée "flight of birds" and Franç. ruée "rush" |
Engl. | roost | of starlings or other birds (their roosting place) |
Engl. | rout of birds | mob, rabble |
Engl. | safe of ducks | a pair |
Engl. | sail of ducks, of larks | ("said") a flight |
Engl. | scurry | ("scry") of autumn birds, of domestic fowl (a hurried flight) |
Engl. | sexy of waterfowl | (prob. a group of six) |
Engl. | siege of heron, of bittern | ("seige", "sege", "sedge") from the way it doggedly wait for its prey |
Engl. | skein | of geese, of ducks (from the shape of their flight formations) |
Engl. | soar of ducks | ("sore", "sord", "lord"!) from soar, Franç. essor "flight" and not from Franç. sourdre) |
Engl. | soma of swans | (a learned equivalent of body (above), from gr. somos) |
Engl. | stand of plovers | (a flock of plovers, not "a motionless group"; this term is not the Engl. to stand, but the Gael.stuaidh,stein,stadhan "flock of birds") |
Engl.: York. | stower of geese | a formation, a pack |
Engl. | string of ducks, of geese | ("spring") from the shape of their flight formations |
Engl. | suite of mallards | ("sute") a series, from the shape of their flight formations |
Engl. | team of ducks, of swans | (a brood or pair with young) |
Engl. | tidings of magpies | (tidings = news, informations from the garrulous reputation of the bird) |
Engl. | tok of capercaillie | (imit. of its peculiar note) |
Engl. | trip | of wigeons, of waders (a group moving together; the word is a dial. variant of troop) |
Engl. | troop | of geese or other birds |
Engl. | unkindness of ravens | (purely poetic) |
Engl. | volery of thrushes | (Franç. volée) |
Engl. | wache of birds | a walk of snipe ð6.2.25. |
Engl. | watch of nightingale | (a vigil, see the Romanian names, No. 337) |
Engl. | wing of plovers | ð6.2.25. |
Engl. | wisp | ("whisp") of "snipe" (= sandpipers) wisp is "a small bunch" |