SPORTING TERMS AND BIG CATS 337 



to speak of a bunch of cattle, but we frequently 

 hear of a covey of quail : if, however, we go back 

 to the original use of this word, covey is only ap- 

 plied to partridges. In some parts of the United 

 States the bob-white is called a partridge and in 

 other parts a quail, and I suppose that in those 

 parts of the country where it is called a partridge 

 it would be perfectly proper to speak of a group 

 of them as a covey, but, if we call the bob-white a 

 quail, according to Hoyle, we must speak of 



A GROUP OF THEM AS A BEVY. 



Bevy is frequently now used for a group of young 

 girls, but this is not an Americanism, for it was 

 used in the same sense in mediaeval times in Eng- 

 land. 



The old use of these words as laid down in the 

 ancient books of hunting and falconry, is as fol- 

 lows: when beasts went together in companies a 

 group of lions was called 



A PRIDE OF LIONS. 



It was also a lepe of leopards. Herd was proper 

 for deer or elk of any sort, and generally used for 

 all kinds of horned beasts, but if it is a group ot 

 does of which you are speaking, 



CALL IT A BEVY. 



They also formerly spoke of a sloth of bears 

 and a singular of boars and sounder of wild swine, 

 but 



