340 DAN BEARD'S ANIMAL BOOK 



sute: but if you happen to be in India hunting pea- 

 cocks and run across a flock, by no means speak of 

 it as a flock, but call it 



A MUSTER OF PEACOCKS 



and a nye of pheasant. At home it is a congrega- 

 tion of plover, a flight of doves, a flight of swal- 

 lows, a dule of turtle-dove, a walk of snipe, and 

 a fall of woodcock, a rookery of crows and a building 

 of rooks, a murmur ation of starlings; but with 

 domestic fowl it is a brood of hens. A flock of 

 larks is poetically spoken of as 



AN EXALTATION OF LARKS, 



and the sparrows very properly as a host of spar- 

 rows. A watch of nightingale, is also significant 

 in its meaning, and a charm of gold finches is 

 charming. 



I trust that the readers will no longer be con- 

 fused in the terms they use for the different 

 "bunches" of animals and game they meet; please 

 do not speak of an afternoon tea as a gaggle of 

 women, or a bunch of pretty girls as a badeling of 

 ducks. 



Few sportsmen of today are familiar with these 

 old names, but everything new or old pertaining 

 to sport is interesting because sportsmen them- 

 selves are interesting people and real sportsmen are 

 fine fellows. It is true that sportsmen delight in 

 shooting game be it big or little, but they also be- 

 lieve in preserving the game of the country, and 



