What Is a Group of Turtle Doves Called?
A symbol of devoted love with a surprisingly wistful name for its flock.
A group of turtle doves is called a pitying, with dule and peerage used as older alternates. Turtle doves (Streptopelia turtur) are long associated with devotion and mourning in folklore and literature, both of which show up in their group names.
What Is a Group of Turtle Doves Called?
Pitying is the term most commonly cited for a group of turtle doves, and like several dove-related collective nouns, it leans into the bird’s long folkloric association with sorrow and devotion rather than describing any specific observed behavior. Dule is a closely related older term, and peerage appears more rarely in historical wordlists.
Where Did the Name Come From?
Turtle doves have carried symbolic weight in English literature and folk tradition for centuries, most famously as devoted, monogamous partners, which is part of why “two turtle doves” appears in “The Twelve Days of Christmas” as a gift representing romantic devotion. “Dule” comes from the Old French deuil, meaning grief or mourning, and was traditionally used for doves generally because of their soft, mournful-sounding call. “Pitying” draws on that same emotional register, part of the broader medieval “terms of venery” tradition that assigned poetic, often melancholy names to birds associated with loss or longing.
Turtle Dove Facts
- Steep decline: the European turtle dove has suffered one of the sharpest population declines of any common UK bird, driven by habitat loss and hunting pressure along migration routes.
- Long migration: turtle doves winter in sub-Saharan Africa and migrate thousands of miles to breed in Europe each summer.
- Purring call: their soft, rolling “turr turr” call is the likely origin of the name “turtle” dove, unrelated to turtles or tortoises.
- Symbol of devotion: turtle doves are traditionally depicted as mating for life, cementing their symbolic status in art and literature as a symbol of loyal love.
Example Sentences
- A pitying of turtle doves perched together on the old orchard fence.
- The poem described a dule of turtle doves calling softly at dusk.
Other Names for a Group of Turtle Doves
Pitying is the term most often listed in collective-noun references. Dule survives from an older tradition shared with doves generally, tied to their mournful call. Peerage is the rarest of the three and doesn’t appear consistently across historical sources.
🧠 Test Your Turtle Dove Knowledge
Three quick questions. See what stuck.
1. What is a group of turtle doves called?
2. Where does the name “turtle dove” come from?
3. What does “dule” originally mean?
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a group of turtle doves called?
A pitying, with dule and peerage used as older alternates.
Why is it called a pitying?
The term draws on turtle doves’ long folkloric association with sorrow and mournful calls, part of the medieval tradition of poetic collective nouns.
Are turtle doves endangered?
The European turtle dove has seen one of the sharpest population declines of any common UK bird, due to habitat loss and hunting pressure.
Do turtle doves really mate for life?
They are traditionally depicted as devoted, monogamous partners, which is central to their symbolic status in art, literature, and folklore.
A Name Wrapped in Symbolism
A pitying of turtle doves carries centuries of folklore in a single word — devotion, loss, and longing, all folded into one small bird.