Introduction . 
7 
kept chiefly for the sake of their feathers, which formed 
an article of commerce of considerable importance. 
The universal fondness for hunting, hawking, and 
other field sports, gave rise to a great number of technical 
expressions connected with the chase, which perpetually 
occur in the writings of the Elizabethan dramatists. Giuil- 
lim, in his Display of Heraldry , 1610 (p. 15), gives a list of 
phrases, many of which are in use at the present day:— 
“ The tayl of a hart is termed the tayl; of a buck, roe, or any 
other deer, the single; of a boar, the wreath; of a fox, the brush, or 
holy water sprinkler; of a wolf, the stern; and of a hare or coney, 
the scut. You shall say that a hart harboureth; a buck lodgeth; a 
roe beddeth; a hare seateth or formeth; a coney sitteth; a fox is 
uncased. You shall say dislodge a buck; start a hare; unkennel 
a fox; rowse a hart; bowlt a coney. A hart belloweth; a buck 
groaneth ; a roe belleth; a hare beateth; a coney tappeth ; a fox 
barketh; a wolf howleth. You shall say a herd of harts, and all 
manner of deer; a bevy of roes; a sounder of swine; a rowt of wolves; 
a riches of marternes; a brace or lease of bucks, of foxes, or hares; a 
couple of rabbets or conies.” 
Mr. Daniel, in bis J Rural Sports, 1812 (vol. ii. p. 480), 
quotes from The Booh of Saint Albans a long list of nouns 
of multitude:— 
“A sege of herons and of bitterns; an herd of swans, of cranes, 
and of curlews ; a dopping of sheldrakes ; a spring of teales; a covert 
of coots; a gaggle of geese : a padelynge of ducks; a bord or sute 
of mallards; a muster of peacocks ; a nye of pheasants; a bevy of 
quailes ; a covey of partridges ; a congregation of plovers; a flight of 
doves ; a dule of turkies; a walk of snipes; a fall of woodcocks; a 
brood of hens; a building of rooks ; a murmuration of starlings; an 
exaltation of larks; a flight of swallows ; a host of sparrows ; a watch 
of nightingales ; and a charm of goldfinches. A pride of lions; a lepe 
of leopards; an herd of harts, of buck, and of all sorts of deer ; a bevy 
of roes; a sloth of bears ; a singular of boars; a sounder of wild swine; 
a dryft of tame swine ; a route of wolves ; a harrass of horses; a rag 
of colts ; a stud of mares; a pace of asses ; a baren of mules; a team 
of oxen; a drove of kine; a flock of sheep; a tribe of goats; a sculk 
of foxes ; a cete of badgers ; a riches of martins ; a fesynes of ferrets ; 
a huske or a down of hares; a nest of rabbits; a clowder of cats, and a 
kendel of young cats ; a shrewdness of apes; and a labour of moles.” 
