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Re: swoops of martins, murder of crows, plus Durham, NC otter



I am a lover of etymology and lexicography, though very much an amateur. I
have always wondered about the authenticity of all of those terms for
various flocks of birds, and this has spurred me to look into it. I've been
doing a bit of research on the story. Here is what I've been able to glean
so far:

The modern interest comes from James Lipton's 1968 book, An Exaltation of
Larks. He apparently got many of his terms from an obscure 15th century
(1486?) English book on hunting terminology, or "terms of "venery,"  called
The Book of St. Albans. It is not clear to me that those terms were ever in
general circulation in the English language, but were used by the
upper-crust elite of the time. Tally-ho and all that! Lipton also **made
up** a lot of the terms in his 1968 book. All in good fun of course!

"Exaltation" as a term for flock of larks is real, and is listed, for
instance, on the wordnet lexicographical site.
 http://www.cogsci.princeton.edu/~wn/ )
"Murder of crows" is not listed on that site. I'll check the Oxford English
Dictionary next time I am at a library. "Gaggle" of geese is in fairly
common use, in fact, is the only term I can recall reading in a context
other than that generated by Lipton's book.

Of some of the others, I am more skeptical. "Shimmer of Hummingbirds"
couldn't be from the Book of St. Albans, because it was published before the
New World was discovered by Europeans. (Hummingbirds, of course, are found
only in the New World.) Same thing about "a rafter of turkeys".

"Descent of woodpeckers" sounds like something Lipton must have made up. It
certainly seems illogical, and I am not aware of any woodpeckers that flock.
(OK, maybe Lewis' Woodpecker in the western US.) Maybe he was confusing them
with Nuthatches, which go down trees frequently.

I've read of a "brace of woodcock", referring to two prepared for the table,
in a Sherlock Holmes novel. Ditto for quail in some other source. I think
this is a culinary term and does not refer to the birds in the field (?).

I love the idea about "parliament of owls" being a pun on "parliament of
fowles" from Chaucer! Sounds good. Also, owls don't generally flock, that I
am aware, which makes the pun origin very plausible.

Well, all these terms are in good fun, of course, and birders are doing what
Lipton did, taking the idea and running with it.

****an otter thing, sorry, couldn't resist***

In neat local nature notes, I spotted an otter swimming and gooming in the
scummy, trash ridden pond on the north side of Parkwood Lake, Durham, NC, on
the morning of March 12. There is no accounting for taste. The otter seemed
quite happy, and I watched it for about 10 minutes, as it swam about and
pulled up on a log to groom. This is all 50 feet from Claremont, a fairly
busy residential road. I hope it has taken up residence--this is only the
second time I've ever seen an otter. I was walking alone, so had walked up
quietly. Mammal watching, I am afraid, is a solitary sport, or one must take
a vow of silence.

----- Original Message -----
From: "gary" <walela@sccoast.net>
To: "carolinabirds" <carolinabirds@duke.edu>
Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2003 11:59 PM
Subject: re:swoops of martins


> shantanu wrote (among other things:)
> >a parliament of owls (stemming, I guess, from the image of the wise owl)<
>
> uhhh, i believe that's a rip-off of ol' Geoff Chaucer's phrase "a
parliament
> of fowles" from Canterbury Tales (my alma mater's mascot name was
purloined
> from that work as well.)
>
> how many crows in a murder, anyway? or geese in a gaggle? more or less
than
> in a mess or a bunch or a slew?
>
> ;-)
>
>
>
>
> Subject: swoops of martins
> From: Shantanu Phukan <phukan AT email.unc.edu>
> Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2003 21:38:01 -0500 (EST)
>
> Today while looking for the Red Necked Grebe on Jordan lake (in vain, I
> might add) I saw a small swoop of purple martins on Martha's Chapel Road.
> I had passed by two days ago and checked the martin houses on this stretch
> but not seen any. So, they must've just arrived.
>
> Also in evidence were several murders of fish crows cawing hoarsely.
>
> Yes, I am trying very hard to show off my newly acquired vocabulary. I
> recently picked up a book on Collective nouns and discovered to my delight
> that flocks of crows are called murders (as lions have prides). Some
> others for you r delight are:
>
> a mutation of thrushes
> a shimmer of Hummingbirds (and we can all attest to this)
> a parliament of owls (stemming, I guess, from the image of the wise owl)
> a squabble of seagulls (that they should be dignified at all with a
> special collective noun!)
> a rafter of turkeys
> an exaltation of larks (this was also the name of the book)
> a scold or a party of jays (I prefer the former)
> a walk of snipe
> a seige of herons
> a gulp of cormorants
> an ostentation of peacocks (how apposite if you've ever seen em display)
> a congregation of plovers
> a sorde of mallards (only, apparently, if they are on the wing)
>
> a descent of woodpeckers (this is a mystery to me, it makes no logical
> sense)
>
> and perhaps the most lyrical of all (though not in real life perhaps) was
> A MURMURATION of Starlings
>
> I thought this was neat and that others might enjoy this. It certainly
> increased my vocablulary in one fell swoop.
>
> So, yes Lake Jordan had swoops of martins and murders of crows.
>
>
> Shantanu Phukan
>
> *****************************************************
> SHANTANU PHUKAN
> Lecturer in Urdu-Hindi & Indian Literature
> University of N. Carolina, Chapel Hill
> Curriculum in Asian Studies
> Alumni Hall 413C
> Chapel Hill, N.C. 27599
>
> phukan AT email.unc.edu
> 919-962-6825
> *****************************************************
>
>
> gary phillips
> conway, sc
> sunset zone 31
>
> "...where is the person, I ask, who, on observing this glittering fragment
> of the rainbow, would not pause, admire, and turn his mind with
> reverence..." (J.J. Audubon)
>