What Is a Group of Rabbits Called?

A group of rabbits is most traditionally called a bury, a term that nods to the elaborate underground burrow systems rabbits are famous for digging and sharing.

Rabbits are intensely social animals, and the language used to describe them reflects that: some terms describe their homes, some describe their movement, and a few are simply old-fashioned words that have stuck around since medieval hunting lists. Whichever term you use, a group of rabbits says something about how these animals live — together, underground, and often in large numbers.

What Is a Group of Rabbits Called?

The most traditional term is a bury of rabbits, referencing the tunnel-and-chamber burrow network rabbits dig and share. In everyday modern usage, though, you’re just as likely to hear a colony of rabbits or a warren of rabbits, both widely recognized and used almost interchangeably with “bury” today, especially by naturalists and wildlife writers describing wild rabbit populations.

Other Collective Nouns for Rabbits

Rabbits have accumulated an unusually large number of collective nouns over the centuries. Here’s what the more common, and some of the more obscure, ones actually mean:

Colony — the most widely used modern term for a group of rabbits, especially in ecological or scientific contexts.
Warren — technically refers to the burrow system itself, though it’s commonly used for the rabbits living in it too.
Berry — a rarer variant on “bury,” referring to the same underground burrow complex.
Trip — one of the older documented terms, appearing in historical word-lists for a group of rabbits on the move.
Nest — used specifically for a mother rabbit (a doe) and her litter of kits, rather than an adult group.
Down — describes rabbits on open grassland or chalk downland, the same rolling habitat associated with sheep and hares.
Drove and Herd — occasionally borrowed from livestock terminology, though far less common for rabbits than for animals like cattle or sheep.
Leash — historically a hunting term for exactly three animals bound or coupled together, applied to rabbits, hares, and foxes alike.
Husk, Wrack, Trace, Flick — older, rarer terms found mainly in historical word-lists, with murky or uncertain origins.

Where Did the Name Come From?

Many of English’s more colorful collective nouns, “husk,” “wrack,” and “leash” among them, trace back to late-medieval hunting and courtly literature, especially The Book of Saint Albans (1486), a compilation of “terms of venery” meant to show off a hunter’s or nobleman’s refinement. Many of these were more about wit and wordplay than biology.

“Bury” and “warren,” on the other hand, have a more practical history. Both come directly from England’s centuries-long tradition of rabbit husbandry, when rabbits were farmed for meat and fur in managed warrens overseen by professional warreners. A “bury” specifically described the underground tunnel network itself, sometimes an artificially mounded one, before the word extended to describe the rabbits living there.

“Nest,” meanwhile, is simply descriptive: a doe gives birth in a fur-lined nest chamber, and the word stuck as the term for her and her kits.

Rabbit Facts

Habitat: Rabbits live in burrow systems dug into grasslands, meadows, farmland, and woodland edges. The European rabbit, ancestor of all domestic breeds, is originally native to the Iberian Peninsula and southwestern Europe.
Social behavior: Rabbits are highly social and typically live in colonies within a shared warren, with multiple family groups and a loose dominance hierarchy influencing burrow access and breeding.
Diet: Strict herbivores, rabbits feed on grasses, clover, herbs, and, in leaner months, bark and twigs. They also practice coprophagy, reingesting soft nighttime droppings to extract additional nutrients from tough plant fiber.
Lifespan: Wild rabbits typically live just 1–3 years due to heavy predation, while domestic rabbits kept as pets commonly live 8–12 years.
Reproduction: Rabbits are famously prolific breeders, with a gestation period of roughly 28–31 days and the ability to produce several litters a year, the biological basis for the “breed like rabbits” saying.

Example Sentences

A bury of rabbits emerged from the hedgerow at dusk to graze on the lawn.
The farmer counted an entire warren of rabbits living along the field’s edge.
Naturalists tracked a colony of rabbits through the meadow all spring.

Other Names for a Group of Rabbits

Explore the individual collective nouns for rabbits in more depth:

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most common name for a group of rabbits?
A bury is the traditional term, but colony and warren are just as widely used today, especially for wild rabbit populations.

Is rabbits’ group-living behavior scientifically real?
Yes. Rabbits genuinely live socially in colonies within shared warrens, with dominance hierarchies affecting burrow access and breeding, unlike some collective nouns that describe animals that are actually solitary.

What’s the difference between a bury and a warren?
Both traditionally describe a rabbit’s underground burrow system, and by extension the rabbits living in it. The terms are largely interchangeable, though warren is the more common word today.

What is a group of baby rabbits called?
A mother rabbit (a doe) and her litter of kits are together called a nest, named for the fur-lined nest chamber where the kits are born.

How is a leash of rabbits different from other group terms?
Leash is a specific hunting term for exactly three animals bound or coupled together, historically used for rabbits, hares, foxes, and hounds alike, not a general group size.

How does a group of rabbits compare to a group of hares?
Rabbits are colonial and live together in warrens, while hares are largely solitary and don’t dig burrows, though some of the same old collective nouns, like down and husk, are historically applied to both.

Related: Collective Nouns for Mammals