Sunday, October 11, 2009

A Vulgarity of Starlings?


A hawk hunts a flock of panicked starlings.



What, exactly, do we call the massive flocks of starlings we see so often this time of year?

Surely such a thing already has a poetic phrase attached to it? After, all almost every group of animals does:

  • It's a paddle of ducks and a flock of seagulls.
  • It's a skulk of foxes and a cry of hounds.
  • It's a lamentation of swans and a charm of hummingbirds.
  • It's an unkindness of ravens and a murder of crows.
  • It's a mob of kangaroos and a pride of lions.
  • It's a school of fish and a pod of whales.
  • It's an aerie of eagles and a wake of buzzards.
  • It's a flight of cormorants and a mob of emus.
  • It's a mischief of rats and a clutter of cats.
  • It's a charm of finches and a hedge of herons.
  • It's a husk of hares and a trip of goats.
  • It's a band of gorillas and a troop of monkeys.
  • It's a deceit of lapwings and an ascension of meadow larks.
  • It's a burden of mules and a drove of ox.
  • It's a descent of woodpeckers and a kettle of hawks.
  • It's an ambush of tigers and a gang of weasels.
  • It's a bale of turtles and a knot of toads.
  • It's a dray of squirrels and a surfeit of skunks.
  • It's a business of ferrets and an array of hedgehogs.
  • It's a rookery of albatrosses and a tiding of magpies.
  • It's a coalition of cheetahs and a leap of leopards.
  • It's a route of coyotes and a packs of wolves.
  • It's a cast of merlins and a scold of blue jays.
  • It's a ridicule of mockingbirds and an ostentation of peacocks.
  • It's a labor of moles and a richness of martens.
  • It's a raft of pelicans and a covey of pheasants.
  • It's a bloat of hippopotamus a crash of rhinoceros.
  • It's a cackle of hyenas and a shiver of sharks.
  • It's a flight of pigeons and a wing of plovers.
  • It's a clan of badgers and a nursery of raccoons.
  • It's a cloud of flies and a swarm of bees.
  • It's a circus of puffins and a flush of quail.
  • It's a regiment of flamingos and a huddle of penguins.
  • It's a sounder of boar and an army of frogs.
  • It's a congregation of plovers and a walk of snipes.
  • It's an intrusion of cockroaches and smack of jellyfish.
  • It's a piteousness of doves and an exaltation of larks.


So what is a huge group of Starlings called?

I would propose a vulgarity of starlings -- a term lifted wholecloth from their Latin name -- Sturnus vulgaris.
.

4 comments:

The Suburban Bushwacker said...

Nice one! A very useful list.
If i could add two more

A business of Ferrets
and
A wunch of bankers ;-)

Cheers
SBW

Retrieverman said...

Just name a bunch of Shakespearean nerds for introducing the vulgarities of starlings to this country!

sfox said...

FWIW- coming up with collective terms like this is the subject of a wonderful book called "An Exhaltation of Larks" by James Lipton, who is otherwise and probably better known as the host of "Inside the Actor's Studio".

Unknown said...

I've heard it called a murmuration of starlings.

http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/about/faqs/animals/names.htm

However, I think a vulgarity is a much better term, at least in North America and other places where it is invasive.

Great news about the Michigan cougar(s)!