Note 4: — Chapter VII

A bird flying is "volant" (Fig. 42); preparing to fly, is "rising" (Fig. 44); when its wings are spread open, they are "displayed"; when folded, they are "close (see Fig. 43)." Birds of prey and barn-door cocks are "armed." Thus, the eagle is blazoned as "armed of his beak and talons"; the cock as "armed of his beak and spurs"; he is also blazoned as "combed and jellopped"—that is, with his crest and wattles. An eagle or any other bird of prey devouring its prey is described as "preying." In blazoning a very old eagle, the French heralds use a special term, pamé;4 our English equivalent would be "exhausted," thereby alluding to the popular notion that with advancing age an eagle's beak becomes so hooked that it is unable to take any nourishment, and so dies of inanition. Birds that have web feet and no talons are usually blazoned "membred." A swan with her wings raised is said to be "expansed"; a peacock with his tail displayed is said to be "in his pride" (Fig. 45); with folded tail he is a peacock "close." A pelican feeding her young is a "pelican in her piety" (see Plate III.); when wounding her breast, she is said to be "vulning." The crane is another bird which enjoys a blazoning term which is all its own—namely, "a crane in its vigilance." It is so described when, as in the Cranstoun arms, it is represented holding a stone in its foot. This charge refers to the old myth, that a crane on duty as a sentinel always holds a stone in its foot, so that in the event of its dropping asleep the sound of the falling stone may act as an alarum.