In article , hugo agogo
writes
"Pickle" wrote in message
...
"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...

Isn't it called a parliament of magpies? :-)

Janet

According to a book of mine (AA Book of the British Countryside) it's a
parliament of owls or rooks, and a "tiding" of magpies (bad tiding?)

Where did all these collective nouns come from? They don't appear in
any dictionary of mine, and seem rather contrived to me!

Mostly Victorian inventions, I believe. Contrived is a very good word
for them.

--
Malcolm