Donal Hickey: A twitter of linnets and a mischief of magpies... how many do you know?

There's also a parliament of rooks, a charm of goldfinches, and a quarrel of sparrows

One for sorrow, two for joy... or a whole 'mischief of magpies'

Names given to flocks of birds of the same species can be charming, odd, bizarre, or downright cruel. Often, however, these collective nouns are uncannily descriptive of birds’ reputation and colouring.

In a recent column in the Outdoors pages, Richard Collins referred to the collective noun, ‘ unkindness of ravens’. The raven is seen as a bird of ill-omen, he noted.

Almost by coincidence, the latest edition of Christy Dorgan’s Irish Birds, their Nests and Eggs arrived and therein we find accounts of the character and behaviour of various species.

A juvenile and adult sparrow

In further research, we learn, for instance, of a ‘quarrel of sparrows’, a mischievous little creature which fights with other birds. Then there’s a ‘charm of goldfinches’, a beautifully-plumed bird and a pleasant singer.

A personal favourite from days in the bog, long ago, gets a most appropriate name — an ‘exultation of skylarks’. This small bird never stops singing and soars straight up into the sky if you surprise it by coming upon its nest in the heather.

Another collective noun that strikes a familiar chord is a ‘parliament of rooks’. More popularly known as crows, these vibrant, noisy birds caw-caw all the time as if in debate.

Rooks nest on top of tall trees but, in the evening, can repair in their hundreds to the roofs of nearby houses, creating an almighty din, as I can testify from regular experience. Not unlike a disorderly day in the Dáil.

Another apt collective noun is a ‘mischief of magpies’. Enthusiastic Christy Dorgan, from Fermoy, County Cork, says magpies cause havoc among the eggs and young of smaller birds and game. These black and white-feathered birds are common countrywide and getting more numerous by all accounts.

A group of linnets is a 'twitter of linnets'. Picture: istockphoto

Another on-the-ball description is a ‘twitter of linnets’. This bird is a fine singer which tweets (in the true sense) away happily and is seen throughout the country.

Many of these collective nouns have origins in mythology and folklore, dating to medieval times and further back. In most cases, they are quite apt and descriptive — just think of an ‘ostentation of peacocks’, or a ‘run of chickens’.

The collective noun for starlings is a 'murmuration of starlings'

And it’s not just birds. Is there any better way of putting it than a ‘flutter of butterflies’, for example?

Finally, probably due to milder winters, our avian friends seem to be active much earlier in the year, with goldfinches, especially, present in gardens. Now highly engaged, birds are flying hither and thither with nest-building materials, not forgetting, of course, the important task of finding mates and breeding.

Dorgan provides a useful, well-illustrated guide to 68 species, the type of nests they build and egg colours.