A Parliament of Owls and a Murder of Crows: How a Forgotten Medieval Woman Gave Groups of Birds Their Strange Names, with Wondrous Vintage Illustrations by Brian Wildsmith

In a piece for The Marginalian, the strange and wonderful collective nouns for birds get a closer look, from a parliament of owls to a murder of crows. Many of these terms trace back to a fifteen-century book called the Book of Saint Albans, written by a woman named Juliana Barnes while she lived in a convent. The piece also highlights the 1967 children's book by illustrator Brian Wildsmith, which brought these terms to life in paint. It's a reminder that language, like the birds themselves, is always evolving.

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