A System of Heraldry - Clan Strachan Society

OF FOWLS AND BIRDS.
again revived by King Charles II. in the person of Richard, Baron and Viscoun;:
Lumley of Lumley, and Earl of Scarborough.
The s-rjan, a bird of great beauty and strength, is frequently carried in arms ;
it is said to be the symbol of a learned man, and of one that knows best how to
contemn the world, and to die with resolution. It is likewise carried as relative to
the names of its bearers.
The SWANBERCI in Germany carry gules, a swan argent, beaked and membred or.
The family of PARAVISINI in the country of Grisons, gules, a goose argent, being
not unlike a swan, as the name points at, Par avis cygno, equivocally clinching to
the name of the family Paravasini ; as Menestrier.
With us the name of LOCH bears azure, a saltier ingrailed
between three swans
naiant in lochs, proper ; two in the flanks, and one in base, proper.
JAMES LOCH of Dr'ylaw, a saltier ingrailed sable, between two swans naiant in
lochs, proper, in. the flanks ; crest, a swan devouring a perch, proper : motto,
Assiduitate, nan desidia. N. R.
The swan is sometimes collared, and, as heralds say, gorged about the neck with
an open crown, with a chain thereto affixed ; and when so, some English heralds
call it a cygnet royal, as in the blazon of Sir CHARLES PITFIELD of Hoxton in Middle-
sex, azure, a bend ingrailed argent, between two cygnets royal, proper. Art.
Her.
The ensign of the country of STORMARIA, whose capital city is Hamburgh, gules,
a swan argent, gorged with a crown or ; the French say, De gueules, au cigne
d 'argent, uccole cCune couronne d\r. And Uredus blazons them thus, Cygnus ar-
genteus, aurea circa colliim corona, in solo rubco, which are quartered in the achievement
of the Kings of Denmark, for the country of Stormarie.
Ducks or Cannets the first is said to be carried ; by the name of MEEK, argent, a
duck proper and on a chief dancette ; gules, a sanglier's head couped or, between
two crescents argent.
Font's MS.
ALEXANDER MICHIESON, now of Hill, eldest lawful son and heir to the deceast
Patrick Michieson of Hill, argent, a duck proper, on a chief dancette gules, a boar's
head couped, proper, between two crescents or ; crest, a decrescent, proper : motto,
Ut implear. N. R. And
PATRICK. MEEK of Leidcassie carries the same arms as above, without any difference
in the same Register ; the crest being an increscent and decrescent ajfronte :
motto, Jungor ut impl'ear.
When ducks are represented without beaks or feet, they are called by Favin,
martlets ; but Menestrier calls them cannets ; for, says he, " sont des cannets, sans
" bee & sans pieds, comme les alerions & les martlets," i. e. cannets are ducks,
without beaks and feet, as alerions and martlets, and are distinguished from both,
thus, alerions, of which before, are always displayed and full faced ; whereas
cannets have their heads in profile, as the martlets, and only differ from martlets
in having longer necks, and more curvating than these of the martlets. Monsieur
Baron gives for an instance in carrying of them in the armorial bearing of the
family of CANNETON in D1
France, argent a sept cannetes de sable, 3 3 and T.
The martlet may be said to be an armorial bird, because frequent in armories all
Europe over, by the Latins called merula ; it is counted one of the birds of passage,
that goes and comes to countries at certain seasons of the year, as the green plover
and dotterel, and others with us, &c. which import expeditions and voyages beyond
seas, of old carried by them who went to the Holy Land to fight against the Saracens
and Turks. Heralds say, that the want of beaks and feet denotes wounds
and strokes which the maimed and lamed have received in such expeditions and
voyages. The English give th-jm legs but very short, PI. II. fig. 14. and tell us
that they cannot go or rise from the ground for flight as other birds, and so make
their resting places and nests on rocks and castles, from which they easily take
their flight; and tell us, the martlet is an agreeable mark of difference for younger
sons, to put them in mind to trust to the wings of virtue and merit, and not to
their legs, having no land of their own to set their feet upon. But I am not to
speak of them here as differencing figures, but as
principal charges, distinguishing
principal families from one another..