Three crows knight's hawk, hound and mistress. "Three crows" are also often implicated in the parliament of crows where three crows preside over a larger number of crows and sit in judgment over the fate of another crow. The verdict sometimes results in a crow being set upon by all the other crows. This behavior and their tendency to show up at battlefields and the scenes of murders may be explain the collective term for crows as being a 'murder of crows'. "Three crows" also refers to a tale of three crows (a father, mother and son crow) bothering the king. There
Collective noun by Walter of Bibbesworth in the mid-1200s, is the earliest source for collective nouns of animals in any European vernacular (and also the earliest source for animal noises). The "Venerie" of Twiti (early 14th century) distinguished three types of droppings of animals, and three different terms for herds of animals. Gaston Phoebus (14th century) had five terms for droppings of animals, which were extended to seven in the "Master of the Game" (early 15th century). The focus on collective terms for groups of animals emerged in the later 15th century. Thus, a list of collective nouns in Egerton MS 1995,