We cannot say much of the toads,[2] tortoises, serpents, grasshoppers, spiders, and snails which occur in heraldry.
[Footnote 2: The legend which connects toads with the fleur-de-lys in the arms of France is too well known to need repetition here.]
The Gandys of Suffolk bear a single tortoise passant, and a tortoise _erected_ occurs on the Coopers' coat of arms.
Serpents are blazoned in terms peculiar to themselves. Thus, a serpent coiled, is said to be _nowed_--knotted--from the French _n[oe]ud_, a knot; when upright on its tail, it is _erect_; gliding, it is _glissant_ also from the French; when biting its tail, it is blazoned _embowed_. The Falconers bear a "serpent embowed"; one Natterley has an "adder nowed"--_natter_ is the German for adder--and Sir Thomas Couch of London charges an adder "curling and erect" upon his shield.
To the Greek, the grasshopper signified nobility; hence amongst the Athenians a golden grasshopper worn in the hair was the badge of high lineage. In later days the heralds considered the grasshopper a type of patriotism, "because in whatever soil a grasshopper is bred, in that will he live and die."
Spiders were not only held symbolical of industry, but they were highly esteemed for their supposed properties of healing.[3]
[Footnote 3: As regards the spider's curative powers, Mr. Thistleton Dyer, in his "Folklore of Shakespeare," tells us that only "a few years ago a lady in Ireland was famous for curing ague with a large house-spider swallowed alive, thickly coated with treacle."]
One family of Shelleys bears three "house-snails" so termed in heraldry to imply that they carry their shells. A type of deliberation in business matters and perseverance is supposed to be furnished by the common snail.
The "creatures that live above the earth"--_i.e._, having wings--come next.
Various heraldic terms are in use for blazoning bird charges--viz.:
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.