Dear Shadow Tribe,
Most of us know that the collective name for a group of crows is a murder. Dark and sinister, it is a wonderfully macabre name for for these beautiful birds that often flock together. But there are other groups of animals with equally evocative shadowy names. I've researched a few of them to use in my writing projects, and this is the list I came up with. Know others? Leave them in the comments below.
- A Murder of Crows
- An Unkindness of Ravens
- A Treachery of Ravens (variant term)
- A Wake of Vultures
- A Cauldron of Bats
- A Parliament of Owls
- A Siege of Herons
- A Plague of Locusts
- A Destruction of (feral) Cats
- A Conspiracy of Lemurs
- A Shrewdness of Apes
- A Shadow of Jaguars
- An Ambush of Tigers
- A Skulk of Foxes
- A Cackle of Hyenas
- A Knot of Toads
- A Business of Ferrets
- A Den/Bed/Knot of Snakes
- A Cluster/Clutter/Colony of Spiders
- A Float/Bask of Crocodiles
- A Congregation of Alligators
These mostly come from the old "terms of venery" lists from medieval (typically 15th century) hunting and poetry books. They stuck because they are poetic and observational, reflecting how people viewed the animals' behavior or appearance.
Between Shadows and Light,
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