This is from a heraldry site for people that like to dress up like knights and princesses, but they are often good about their details in costumes and heraldry, even if they're careless about their spelling, and I'd saved this bit last time I went surfing around: paste begins here****** The /crane/ is a long-legged aquatic *bird* with a long neck and bill. Its most common posture is /in its vigilance/, standing on one foot and grasping a stone in the other. The medieval bestaries held that the crane would stand this way; should it fall asleep, it would drop the stone and waken. As an heraldic charge, it dates from c.1270, in the arms of the Counts de Gruyere. Similar to the crane are the /heron/, the /stork/, the /egret/ and the /ibis/. The heron is drawn with a long tuft on its head; it is found in the canting arms of Heron, c.1255. The stork is often depicted with a snake in its bill, even when this is not specifically blazoned; it is found in the arms of Oglander, /temp./ Henry III. The ibis and egret are generally drawn as found in nature. paste ends********* Renee, you said something to the effect of it must have been an easy move from the crane to the pelican -- I missed something. Can you explain that, or forgive me if it's something I missed or am missing? I'm curious because the crane and pelican are usually considered two quite distinct animals in what little I know of heraldry, and the pelican is always specifically gendered feminine, perhaps because of the old myth of her feeding her young from her breast with her own blood, I wonder? I don't know any cool stories or myths about cranes though :-) though the idea of the crane in heraldry having its roots in the Gruyere family's coats of arms begs for a story as well! Off to look for inspiring pictures, Karma

Oh I was just kidding around..... moving from Switzerland and the crane to Louisiana and the pelican....! Just being silly. Thanks for that interesting quote from the heraldry book. I'll keep a look out for more on cranes. I have a ton of books on symbology... When I have time, I'll look through some of those... Renee Karma wrote: > > Renee, you said something to the effect of it must have been an easy > move from the crane to the pelican -- I missed something. Can you > explain that, or forgive me if it's something I missed or am missing? > I'm curious because the crane and pelican are usually considered two > quite distinct animals in what little I know of heraldry, and the > pelican is always specifically gendered feminine, perhaps because of > the old myth of her feeding her young from her breast with her own > blood, I wonder? I don't know any cool stories or myths about cranes > though :-) though the idea of the crane in heraldry having its roots > in the Gruyere family's coats of arms begs for a story as well! > > Off to look for inspiring pictures, > > Karma