Bevy:
- a group of birds, as larks or quail, or animals, as roebuck, in close association.
- a large group or collection:
a bevy of boisterous sailors. [Dictionary.com]
Noted in “Grizzly Bears Might Return to California. Is the State Ready?” Brent Crane, Discover (April 2019):
The reserve is a picturesque expanse of shrubby hills and fields of wild oats cut through with gurgling creeks. Bevies of quail patrol dirt roads, while camera traps set up near water troughs capture images of deer, mountain lions, black bears and even rattlesnakes. The “chaparral bear,” the old nickname for California grizzlies, would have done just fine here, Alagona says.
The visual of a pack of quail, heavily armored and armed with bazookas, peering out of the ditch of the dirt road, pursues me through my dreams.
