A collective of nouns, (alternatives in brackets)

from: http://users.tinyonline.co.uk/gswithenbank/collnoun.htm (amongst other sources)

• A colony of auks (flock, raft)
• A colony of avocets
• A flock of birds (dissimulation, fleet, flight, parcel, pod, volary, )
• A sedge of bitterns (siege)
• A chain of bobolinks
• A bellowing of bullfinches
• A flock of bustards
• A wake of buzzards
• A tok of capercaillies
• A muse of capons
• A brood of chickens (cletch, clutch, peep)
• A chattering of choughs (clattering)
• A covert of coots ( commotion, cover, fleet, flock, pod, rasp, swarm)
• A flight of cormorants (gulp)
• A sedge of cranes (herd, sedge, siege)
• A murder of crows ( hover, muster, parcel)
• A head of curlews (herd)
• A trip of dotterel
• A dole of doves ( dule, flight, piteousness, pitying, prettying)
• A flush of ducks (badelynge, brace, bunch, dopping, flock, paddling, plump, raft, skein, sord, string, team)
• A flight of dunbirds (rush)
• A fling of dunlins
• A convocation of eagles (aerie)
• A cast of falcons
• A charm of finches (chirm, trembling, trimming)
• A stand of flamingos
• A gaggle of geese (flock, plump, skein, team, wedge)
• A charm of goldfinches (chattering, drum, troubling)
• A dopping of goosanders
• A flight of goshawks
• A covey of grouse (brace, brood, flight, pack)
• A bazaar of guillemots
• A colony of gulls
• A mews of hawks (aerie, cast, kettle, mew, moulting, screw, stream)
• A brood of hens
• A sedge of herons (flight, hedge, rookery, siege)
• A charm of hummingbirds (chattering, drum, troubling)
• A colony of ibises
• A band of jays (party, scold)
• A desert of lapwings (deceit)
• A parcel of linnets
• An exaltation of larks (ascension, bevy, flight)
• A congregation of magpies (charm, flock, gulp, murder, tiding, tittering, tribe, )
• A sord of mallards (flush, puddling, sute)
• A plump of moorhens
• A fleet of mudhens
• A watch of nightingales (match, pray)
• A pride of ostriches (flock)
• A parliament of owls (stare)
• A fling of oxbirds
• A company of parrots (flock, pandemonium, psittacosis)
• A covey of partridges (bevy, bew, clutch, warren)
• A muster of peacocks (ostentation, pride)
• A pod of pelicans (scoop)
• A colony of penguins (parcel, rookery)
• A cadge of peregrines
• A nye of pheasants (bouquet, head, nide, warren, )
• A flight of pigeons (flock, kit, passel, )
• A knob of pintail [small number]
• A congregation of plovers (band, flight, leash, stand, wing)
• A rush of pochard (flight, knob[small number])
• A run of poultry
• A covey of ptarmigans
• A bevy of quail (covey, drift)
• An unkindness of ravens (aerie, conspiracy)
• A crowd of redwings
• A parliament of rooks (building, clamour, congregation, shoal, wing)
• A hill of ruffs
• A fling of sandpipers
• A cloud of seafowl
• A squabble of seagulls
• A dopping of sheldrakes (doading)
• A walk of snipe (wisp)
• A host of sparrows (meinie, quarrel, tribe, ubiquity)
• A murmuration of starlings (chattering, cloud, congregation, clutter)
• A mustering of storks (flight, phalanx)
• A flight of swallows (gulp)
• A herd of swans (bank, bevy, drift, eyrar, game, herd, lamentation, sownder, squadron, team, wedge, whiteness, whiting)
• A flock of swifts
• A spring of teals (bunch, coil, knob, raft)
• A mutation of thrushes
• A flock of turkeys (dole, dule, raffle, raft, rafter, posse)
• A pitying of turtledoves
• A wake of vultures
• A plump of waterfowl (bunch, knob, raft)
• A company of widgeon (bunch, coil, flight, knob, trip)
• A trip of wildfowl (bunch, knob, lute, plump,scry, skein, sord)
• A fall of woodcock (covey, flight, plump)
• A descent of woodpeckers
• A herd of wrens (flock)

• A cluster of antelopes (herd, tribe)
• A shrewdness of apes (troop)
• A pace of asses (drove, coffle, herd)
• A flange of baboons (congress, troop)
• A cete of badgers (colony)
• A cloud of bats (colony)
• A sloth of bears (sleuth)
• A colony of beavers (family, lodge)
• A herd of bison (gang)
• A sute of bloodhounds
• A herd of boars (singular)
• A sounder of boars, wild [12+]
• A herd of bucks
• A gang of buffalo (herd, obstinacy)
• A drove of bullocks
• A flock of camels (caravan, herd, train)
• A herd of caribou
• A clowder of cats (glaring, cluster, clutter)
• A destruction of cats, wild (dout, dowt)
• A herd of cattle (drift, drove, mob)
• A herd of chamois
• A coalition of cheetahs
• A colony of chinchilla
• A rake of colts (rack, rag)
• A bury of conies (game)
• A flink of cows [12+]
• A pack of coyote (band, rout)
• A litter of cubs
• A cowardice of curs
• A herd of deer (bunch, leash, mob, parcel, rangale)
• A pack of dogs (kennel)
• A pod of dolphins
• A herd of donkeys (drove)
• A herd of eland
• A herd of elephants (parade)
• A gang of elk (herd)
• A business of ferrets (cast, fesnying)
• A skulk of foxes (earth, lead, leash, troop)
• A brace of geldings
• A horde of gerbils
• A tower of giraffes (corps, group, herd)
• A herd of gnu (implausibility)
• A trip of goats (flock, herd, trip, tribe)
• A band of gorillas (whoop)
• A leash of greyhounds
• A group of guinea pigs
• A horde of hamsters
• A drove of hares (down, flick, herd, husk, kindle, leash, trace, trip)
• A herd of harts
• A herd of hartebeest
• A array of hedgehogs (prickle)
• A parcel of hinds
• A bloat of hippopotami (crash, herd, pod, school, thunder)
• A drift of hogs (drove, parcel)
• A stable of horses (harras, herd, remuda, string, stud, team)
• A pack of hounds (cry, hunt, kennel, meet, mute, stable, sute)
• A clan of hyenas
• A herd of ibex
• A couple of impalas
• A husk of jackrabbits
• A mob of kangaroos (troop)
• A kindle of kittens (litter)
• A fall of lambs
• A leap of leopards (lepe)
• A kindle of leverets
• A pride of lions (flock, sault, sowse, troop)
• A herd of llamas
• A stud of mares
• A richness of martens (richesse)
• A nest of mice (trip)
• A labour of moles (company, movement)
• A band of mongooses (pack)
• A troop of monkeys (cartload, mission, tribe, troop, wilderness)
• A herd of moose
• A nest of mice (horde, mischief)
• A barren of mules (pack, rake, span)
• A family of otters (bevy, raft, romp)
• A team of oxen (drove, herd, meinie, span, yoke)
• A pomp of pekingese
• A drove of pigs (flock, herd)
• A sounder of pigs, wild
• A farrow of piglets (litter)
• An aurora of polar bears (pack)
• A chine of polecats
• A string of ponies
• A school of porpoises (herd, pod)
• A coterie of prarie dogs (town)
• A litter of pups
• A gaze of raccoons (nursery)
• A colony of rabbits (bury, drove, flick, kindle, leash, nest, trace, warren, wrack)
• A field of racehorses (string)
• A nursery of racoons
• A colony of rats (horde, mischief, swarm)
• A crash of rhinoceroses (herd, stubbornness)
• A bevy of roe deer
• A colony of seals (harem, herd, pod, rookery, spring)
• A flock of sheep (down, drift, drove, fold, herd, meinie, mob, parcel, trip)
• A surfeit of skunks
• A dray of squirrels (colony)
• A pack of stoats (trip)
• A drove of swine (herd)
• A doylt of swine, tame (drift, trip)
• A sounder of swine, wild [12+]
• An ambush of tigers (streak)
• A blessing of unicorns
• A colony of voles
• A huddle of walruses (herd, ugly)
• A mob of wallaby
• A sneak of weasels (gang, pack)
• A school of whales (float, gam, herd, mob, pod, run, shoal, troup)
• A grind of whales, bottle-nosed
• A destruction of wildcats (dout)
• A herd of wildebeest
• A pack of wolves (herd, rout)
• A mob of wombats
• A herd of yaks
• A cohort of zebras (herd, zeal)

• A culture of bacteria
• A stuck of jellyfish (fluther, smack)
• A clew of worms

• A bed of clams
• A bed of cockles
• A bed of mussels
• A bed of oysters (hive)
• An escargatoire of snails (rout, walk)

• A colony of ants (army, bike, swarm)
• A swarm of bees (bike, cast, cluster, drift, erst, game, grist, hive, rabble, stand)
• A bike of bees, wild
• A flight of butterflies (kaleidoscope, rabble, swarm)
• An army of caterpillars
• An intrusion of cockroaches
• A swarm of flies (business, cloud, grist, hatch)
• A cloud of gnats (horde, rabble, swarm)
• A cloud of grasshoppers (cluster, swarm) A bike of hornets (nest, swarm)
• A flight of insects (horde, plague, rabble, swarm)
• A flock of lice
• A plague of locusts (cloud, swarm)
• A colony of lice (infestation)
• A scourge of mosquitos (swarm)
• A clutter of spiders (cluster)
• A colony of termites (swarm)
• A colony of wasps (bike, nest)

• A company of angel fish
• A company of archer fish
• A battery of baracuda
• A shoal of barbels
• A fleet of bass (shoal)
• A grind of blackfish
• A school of butterfly fish
• A school of cod
• A swarm of dragonet fish
• A troop of dogfish
• A pod of dolphins (school, team)
• A swarm of eels
• A shoal of fish (catch, draught, fray, haul, run, school)
• A glide of flying fish
• A glint of goldfish (troubling)
• A glean of herrings (army, shoal)
• A shoal of mackerel
• A shoal of minnows (steam, stream, swarm)
• A pack of perch
• A shoal of pilchards (school)
• A cluster of porcupine fish
• A gam of porpoises (herd, pod, school, turmoil)
• A party of rainbow fish
• A shoal of roach
• A bind of salmon (draught, leap, run, school, shoal)
• A family of sardines
• A herd of seahorses
• A shoal of shad
• A shiver of sharks (school, shoal)
• A troup of shrimps
• A quantity of smelt
• A shoal of sticklebacks (spread)
• A flotilla of swordfish
• A hover of trout (shoal)
• A float of tunas (troup)
• A pod of whiting

• A quiver of cobras
• A bask of crocodiles (congregation, float, nest)
• A herd of dinosaurs (pack)
• A flight of dragons (weyr, wing)
• An army of frogs (colony, froggery, knot)
• A mess of iguanas
• A rhumba of rattlesnakes
• A den of snakes (bed, knot, nest, pit, trogle)
• A knot of toads (knob, nest)
• A bale of turtles (dule, turn)
• A nest of vipers (generation)

• A faculty of academics
• A troupe of acrobats
• A cast of actors/players (company, cry)
• A conflagration of arsonists
• A troupe of artistes
• A team of athletes
• A tabernacle of bakers
• A babble of barbers
• A promise of barmen
• A thought of barons
• A bevy of beauties
• A bench of bishops (psalter)
• A blush of boys
• A feast of brewers
• A shuffle of bureaucrats
• A goring of butchers
• A sneer of butlers
• A slate of candidates
• A chapter of canons (dignity)
• A congregation of churchgoers
• A school of clerks
• A cutting of cobblers (drunkship)
• A hastiness of cooks
• A cowardice of curs
• A troupe of dancers
• A decanter of deans (decorum)
• An obstruction of dons
• A board of directors
• A staff of employees
• A panel of experts
• A stalk of foresters
• A talent of gamblers
• A galaxy of governesses
• A conjunction of grammarians
• A herd of harlots
• A melody of harpists
• An observance of hermits
• A gang of hoodlums
• A cavalcade of horsemen
• A blast of hunters
• A bench of judges (sentence)
• A neverthriving of jugglers
• A banner of knights (rout)
• A bevy of ladies
• An eloquence of lawyers
• A colony of lepers
• An audience of listeners
• An illusion of magicians
• A riches of matrons
• A band of men
• A faith of merchants
• A diligence of messengers
• A cortege of mourners
• An orchestra of musicians
• A tribe of natives
• A superfluity of nuns
• A crowd of onlookers
• A curse of painters (illusion, misbelieving)
• A malapertness of pedlars
• A crowd of people
• A troupe of performers (troup)
• A skirl of pipers (poverty)
• A converting of preachers
• A pity of prisoners
• A band of robbers
• A crew of sailors
• A scolding of seamstresses
• A house of senators
• A subtlety of sergeants at law
• An obeisance of servants
• A posse of sheriffs
• A blackening of shoemakers
• A choir of singers
• A squad of soldiers (army, brigade, company, division, platoon, troop)
• A class of students
• A disguising of tailors
• A glozing of taverners
• A den of thieves
• A flock of tourists
• An unction of undertakers
• A prudence of vicars
• An ambush of widows
• A coven of witches
• A gaggle of women
• A congregation of worshippers
• A worship of writers
• A fellowship of yeomen

• A wing of aircraft
• A host of angels (chorus)
• A quiver of arrows
• A belt of asteroids
• A bunch of bananas (hand)
• A grove of bayonets
• A carillon of bells (change, peal)
• A library of books
• A batch of bread
• A bavin of brushwood
• A fleet of cars
• A pack of cards (deck, hand)
• A network of computers
• A dossier of documents
• A clutch of eggs
• A bed of flowers (bouquet, patch)
• A colony of fungi
• A pantheon of gods
• A bunch of grapes (cluster)
• A chain of islands (archipelago)
• A cache of jewels
• A ring of keys
• A fleet of lorries (convoy)
• A rouleau of coins
• A collective of nouns
• A bank of monitors
• A range of mountains
• A troop of mushrooms
• A coterie of orchids
• A string of pearls
• A phantasmagoria of phantoms
• An anthology of poems
• A clump of reeds
• A fleet of ships (armada, flotilla)
• A pair of shoes
• A flight of stairs
• A galaxy of stars (constellation)
• An agenda of tasks
• A stand of trees (clump, forest, grove)

• A balance of accountants
• A corps of anatomists
• A conflagration of arsonists
• An audit of bookkeepers
• A rascal of boys
• A clutch of breasts
• A clutch of car mechanics
• A load of cobblers
• An unease of compromises
• A galaxy of cosmologists
• An intrigue of council members
• An incredulity of cuckolds
• A brace of dentists
• A bodge of DIYers
• A grid of electricians
• An exaggeration of fishermen
• A revelation of flashers
• A fraid of ghosts
• A giggle of girls
• An expectation of heirs
• A vagary of impediments
• A wealth of information
• A scoop of journalists
• A flush of lavatories
• An eloquence of lawyers
• A stack of librarians
• A babble of linguists
• A number of mathematicians
• A compromise of mediators
• A number of mathematicians
• An amalgamation of metallurgists
• A shower of meteorologists
• An expectation of midwives
• A horde of misers
• An annoyance of neighbours
• A row of oarsmen
• A body of pathologists
• A virtue of patients
• A ponder of philosophers
• A clique of photographers
• A nucleus of physicists
• A breakdown of plans
• A flush of plumbers
• A complex of psychologists
• A following of stalkers
• A portfolio of stockbrokers
• A fanfare of strumpets
• A pack of suitcases
• A flight of yesterdays
• A jam of tarts
• A hug of teddy bears
• A bunch of things
• A promise of tomorrows
• A twinkling of todays
• A cancellation of trains
• A linkage of webmasters
• An impatience of wives
• A yearning of yesterdays
• An optimism of youths