from
The Oxford Desk Dictionary and Thesaurus, American Edition; Berkley Books,
NY 1997

Terms for groups of animals, etc.

a shrewdness of apes
a herd or pace of asses
a cete of badgers
a sloth or sleuth of bears
a hive, swarm, drift, or bike of bees
a flock, flight, parcel, pod, fleet or dissimulation of birds; a volary of
birds in an aviary
a sounder of boar
a blush of boys
a herd or gang of buffalo
a chowder or glaring of cats; a dowt or destruction of cats
a herd, drove, drift or mob of cattle
a brood, cletch, clutch or peep of chickens
a chattering or clattering of choughs
a drunkship of cobblers
a rag or rake of colts
a hastiness of cooks
a covert of coots
a herd of cranes
a litter of cubs
a herd of curlew
a cowardice of curs
a herd or mob of deer
a pack or kennel of dogs
a trip of dotterel
a flight, dole or piteousness of doves
a raft, bunch, or paddling of ducks on water; a team of wild ducks in flight
a fling of dunlins
a herd of elephants
a herd or gang of elk
a business of ferrets
a charm of fish, a run of fish in motion
a cloud of flies
a stalk of foresters
a skulk of foxes
a gaggle or (in the air) a skein, team, or wedge of geese
a herd of giraffes
a flock, herd, or trip of goats
a pack or covey of grouse
a husk or down of hares
a cast of hawks let fly
an observance of hermits
a siege of herons
a stud or haras of (breeding) horses; a team of horses
a kennel, pack, cry, or mute of hounds
a flight or swarm of insects
a mob or troop of kangaroos
a kindle of kittens
a bevy of ladies
a desert of lapwing
an exultation or bevy of larks
a leap of leopards
a pride of lions
a tiding of magpies
a sord or sute (=suit) of mallard
a richess of martens
a faith of merchants
a labor of moles
a troop of monkeys
a barren of mules
a watch of nightengales
a superfluity of nuns
a covey of partridges
a muster of peacocks
a malapertness (= impertinence) of peddlers
a rookery of penguins
a head or nye of pheasants
a lit of pigeons flying together
a herd of pigs
a stand, wing, or congregation of plovers
a rush or flight of pochards
a herd, pod, or school or porpoises
a pity of prisoners
a covey of ptarmigan
a litter of pups
a bevy or drift of quail
a string of racehorses
an unkindness of ravens
a bevy of roes
a parliament or building of rooks
a hill of ruffs
a herd or rookery of seals; a pod (= small herd) of seals
a flock, herd, drift, trip or mob of sheep
a dopping of sheldrake
a wisp or walk of snipe
a host of sparrows
a murmuration of starlings
a flight of swallows
a game or herd of swans; a wedge of swans in the air
a herd of swine; a sounder of tame swine; a drift of wild swine
a glozing (= fawning) of taverners
a spring of teal
a bunch or knob of waterfowl
a school, herd, or gam of whales; a pod (= small school) of whales; a grind
of bottle-nosed whales
a company or trip of widgeon
a bunch, trip or plump of wildfowl; a knob (less than 30) of wildfowl
a pack or rout of wolves
a gaggle of women (derisive)
a fall of woodcock
a herd of wrens