Two or three months ago, I saw
from my window 24 magpies having a meeting - and this was before the
start of the breeding season! A few years ago, if you saw a party of
four, it was remarkable, as the famous little ditty proves.

What's a few years?

I used to say the ditty to our children in their pushchairs and we'd run out
of lines (as I remember eight - no seven - was the highest number in the
rhyme), so we'd see far more than four magpies.

One for sorrow
Two for joy
Three for a girl
Four for a boy
Five for silver
Six for gold
Seven for a secret never to be told.

Those children are in their forties now ...

Actually I love watching magpies. They are most handsome and
intelligent. They appear to be good parents. Their nest-building is
something to behold - I have one just outside my (second floor) living
room window. But they are also very aggressive and predatory birds.

I agree with all of that, but we're putting human values on their activities
.... All birds are aggressive when caring for young, aren't they?

Mary

On Wed, 21 May 2003 21:33:29 +0100, "Mary Fisher"
wrote:

Two or three months ago, I saw
from my window 24 magpies having a meeting - and this was before the
start of the breeding season! A few years ago, if you saw a party of
four, it was remarkable, as the famous little ditty proves.

What's a few years?

I used to say the ditty to our children in their pushchairs and we'd run out
of lines (as I remember eight - no seven - was the highest number in the
rhyme), so we'd see far more than four magpies.

Those children are in their forties now ...

It probably depends where you are - in some corners of the UK the magpie
is still a rare bird. But yes, when I was at school in Devon (early
seventies, say), while a party of ten magpies was sufficient to attract
comment, it was certainly not rare.

--
Stephen Poley
uk.rec.birdwatching FAQ: http://www.xs4all.nl/~sbpoley/ukrb.htm

Snip

Snip . . . . . 24 magpies having a meeting . . . . . . Snip

A veritable "tittering" of magpies.

Geoff

The message
from "geoff" contains these words:

Snip

Snip . . . . . 24 magpies having a meeting . . . . . . Snip

A veritable "tittering" of magpies.

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

Janet

"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
The message
from "geoff" contains these words:

Snip

Snip . . . . . 24 magpies having a meeting . . . . . . Snip

A veritable "tittering" of magpies.

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


Depends if they're talking bullshit or not :-)

Mark

in article , Janet Baraclough at
wrote on 22/5/03 10:54 pm:

The message
from "geoff" contains these words:

Snip

Snip . . . . . 24 magpies having a meeting . . . . . . Snip

A veritable "tittering" of magpies.

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

Janet


I think it's a parliament of rooks and a murder of crows.
--

Sacha
(remove the 'x' to email me)

".............. Isn't it called a parliament of magpies? .........."

No its a parliament of Rooks

"David Hill" wrote in message
...
".............. Isn't it called a parliament of magpies? .........."

No its a parliament of Rooks



I've seen the collective noun for rooks given as 'clamour' or 'building'.
'Parliament' was used for owls.

"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
The message
from "geoff" contains these words:

Snip

Snip . . . . . 24 magpies having a meeting . . . . . . Snip

A veritable "tittering" of magpies.

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


I think the collective noun is usually given as 'tiding' or 'tittering',
but, as magpies make a lot of noise without influencing Government
decisions, your suggestion is probably very apt. However, 'parliament' is
already taken, as in 'a parliament of owls'.

"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?)

"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!

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

Herd of cows but not of sheep:. a coven of witches: a school of fish;
you would not call these contrived would you?

Collective nouns for various birds contrived? I do not think so. More
likely to be various names used in different parts of the country and
brought together by some lexicographer.

I have a list of birds' collective nouns, if anybody would like a copy
contact me direct.

Geoff

"geoff" wrote in message ...
Herd of cows but not of sheep:. a coven of witches: a school of fish;
you would not call these contrived would you?

I wasn't talking about 'herd', 'flock', 'coven', 'school', etc, all of
which are in everyday usage.

Collective nouns for various birds contrived? I do not think so. More
likely to be various names used in different parts of the country and
brought together by some lexicographer.

I wasn't even talking about 'bevy' (quails) 'covey' (partridges),
'gaggle' (farmyard geese), 'skein' (wild geese in flight), etc, which
are also in recognised usage. I was talking about 'parliament',
'tiding', 'murder' etc, when used as collective nouns for various
species of birds. These words don't appear in any English dictionary
I have come across.

I have a list of birds' collective nouns, if anybody would like a copy
contact me direct.

I expect your list is the highly fanciful and contrived list that I
have seen elsewhere on the internet.

Xref: kermit uk.rec.gardening:145008


"Malcolm" wrote in message
...

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.


That'd be 'a contrivance of collective nouns', then, eh?

I'd imagine people coin new collective nouns all the time, but most of them
don't make it into general usage or convince lexicographers to adopt them.