Are "hen sparrow'' and ''cock sparrow" common

[Untaught88]

Hi,

Are "hen sparrow'' and ''cock sparrow" common or Do I have to use "female sparrow" and "male sparrow"?

 

[Untaught88]

Thank you.

Should I also use "hen" and "cock" for "pigeon"?
Should I also use a hyphen?

 

[Barb_D]

Perhaps because I'm not much of a bird watcher or perhaps this is an American difference, but I've never heard that.

Female sparrow, male cardinal, whatever. I've only ever used "male" or "female" (usually in relation to plumage).

 

[Skrej]

Apparently so, according to this website.

Honestly, I usually just use cock/hen with a few select birds such as pheasants (male also called 'rooster'), chickens (male is also called a rooster), guineas, and peafowl - primarily only those which are domesticated or hunted, where gender distinction is more important.

Otherwise, with songbirds and such, I'd tend to just use male/female with most species of birds.

Some birds have specific names for the male genders, although the female name is often just hen or the same as the type of bird it is.

goose: male = gander, female = goose
hawk: male = tiercel, female = hawk
duck: male=drake, femal = duck
turkey: young male = jake, mature male= tom or gobbler, female = hen

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Hi,

Are "hen sparrow'' and ''cock sparrow" common or Do I have to use "female sparrow" and "male sparrow"?

I've never heard those. Here in the US, cock and hen generally refer to chickens. And we call male chickens roosters more often than we call them cocks.

 

[Tarheel]

Oh good! More fowl names to learn!

(If I don't call a male hawk a "tiercel" will he get mad at me?)

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Oh good! More fowl names to learn!

(If I don't call a male hawk a "tiercel" will he get mad at me?)

Yes, unless he's hen-pecked.

 

[Skrej]

Or if he's feeling a bit peckish.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Or if he's feeling a bit peckish.

Don't start a flap.

 

[Rover_KE]

Don't forget the moorcock/moorhen and peacock/peahen (to be fair, Skrej mentioned 'peafowl' earlier but some of you may have missed it.)

 

[jutfrank]

Who shot Cock Robin?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Whippoorwilliam Tell.

 

[Tdol]

hawk: male = tiercel, female = hawk

I had managed to live my whole life up to today without knowing the word tiercel. While these names clearly exist, in most contexts using male/female would work fine.

 

[Tdol]

What are the male and female of the sparrowhawk? And when was the last time you went hawking? ;-)

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

What sheltered lives some people lead.

We're all cooped up!

 

[Skrej]

I had managed to live my whole life up to today without knowing the word tiercel. While these names clearly exist, in most contexts using male/female would work fine.

I suppose it's based on how much contact you have with birds and/or one's general interests, but between being a farm boy and hunter in my youth, I use or hear most of those specific terms.

Where I grew up, calling a tom, drake, or rooster a "male turkey/duck/pheasant/chicken" would earn you a bemused smile and get you mentally labeled as a city slicker, a pejorative to be avoided at all costs!

However, most of my coworkers today likely wouldn't know any of these terms, as their idea of wildlife is a squirrel in their backyard. I suspect using the term cock in my workplace today would earn me a sexual harassment complaint, as all my female coworkers are high maintenance city gals.

But then, I can also identify an animal by scat or footprint (or at least if it was an animal indigenous to the area I grew up), so I suppose we all have different skill sets.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Skrej, you're an endangered species!

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

PS -

I have friends whose son, who lives in New York City, has a hunting bird. Look what it caught:

http://i.imgur.com/k4JxOex.jpg

 

[konungursvia]

If one needs to talk about the gender of sparrows, then 'cock' and 'hen' are common enough.

I would never have known that, not even in a parallel universe in which I was Steve Irwin.

 

[Tdol]

I suppose it's based on how much contact you have with birds and/or one's general interests, but between being a farm boy and hunter in my youth, I use or hear most of those specific terms.

I'm a townie. I enjoy watching birds, but can barely name them apart from the more obvious ones.