An Aerie of Eagles

Has your character encountered a leap of leopards? Maybe a bask of crocodiles would work better for you. There are special names attributed to groups of just about any animals. How could this be of use in writing?

Dorothy Cannell certainly made use of ‘a murder of crows’ in her book The Widow’s Club. Reading it is what first gave me a curiosity about what groups of animals are called. Many group names certainly fit their animals. Maybe you could work one or more of them into the plot of your next story.

You will notice that some group names are given to more than one animal. I am going to mention the group name, then the animal or animals with which it can be used. Therefore, you will notice that before I am done (this series will be several articles long), many animals will have been mentioned more than one time.

Aerie - This denotes a group of eagles. Rather fitting when you take into account that an aerie is also the nest of an eagle.

Ambush - An ambush is a group of tigers.

Arc - The dove that Noah sent out from the ark after the Great Flood brought back an olive branch. The second time that Noah sent the dove out, it did not return. How fitting that a group of doves should be called an arc.

Army - This group name has been given to more than one group of animals. An army of ants, caterpillars, frogs, or herring could be encountered. Perhaps a murder mystery could have an army of red herrings?

Array - While living in England, I once encountered a single hedgehog in my backyard. It was rolled up into a ball. At the time, I didn’t actually realize what I was seeing. If there had been an array of them, my curiosity may have caused me to touch one and be really sorry about it. One hedgehog is a hedgehog. An array of hedgehogs is a group of them.

Ascension - Ascension is the act of rising up into the air. This is a fitting name for a group of birds, but the only group of birds it has been given to is the larks. An ascension of larks can be watched rising into the heavens.

Badling - The only definition I could find for badling was a group of ducks. I found this definition at thefreedictionary.com. According to it, a term similar to badling was used for a group of ducks as early as 1486.

Bale - Although bale is used commonly in reference to hay, the classic name for a group of turtles is a bale. Traffic slowed because of the bale of turtles crossing the busy intersection.