Okay, kids, someone just called to ask me a question I can't answer. The bunch of eggs in the nest is a "clutch." When the birds eventually hatch and grow up, they'll be something species-specific, such as a gaggle of geese or a murder of crows. But what in heck do we call the *group* of nestlings snuggling in the nest? And would we use a different group term for the precocial young of waterfowl, for instance, that don't stay confined in a nest? Anyone got a bright idea? (BTW, the call came from people in New York, near the Pale Male site.)

Burt Guttman
The Evergreen State College
Olympia, WA 98505 guttmanb at evergreen.edu
Home: 7334 Holmes Island Road S. E., Olympia, 98503