These mythical birds are shown properly in English heraldry with two or three short tufts of feathers in place of legs and feet.
Swifts, formerly known as martlets, have such small legs that they were believed to have none at all, which provides a likely explanation for the legend of the legless martlet.
French merlette , Belgium In
French heraldry, the
canette or
anet is a small duck (French:
canard), shown without feet. According to Théodore Veyrin-Forrer
la canette représente la canne ou le canard; si elle est dépourvue du bec et des pattes, elle devient une merlette. ("The canette represents the duck or drake; if she is deprived of beak and feet she becomes a merlette"). In French
un merle, from Latin
merula (feminine), is a male
blackbird, a member of the
thrush family (formerly the term was feminine and could designate a male:
une merle—a hen blackbird:
une merlesse). A
merlette (diminutive form of
merle: a little blackbird) in common parlance, since the 19th century, is a female blackbird, but in heraldic terminology is defined as
une figure représentant une canette mornée ("a figure representing a little female duck 'blunted'").
Une cane is a female duck (male
canard, "drake") and
une canette, the diminutive form, is "a little female duck". The verb
morner in ancient French means "to blunt", in heraldic terminology the verbal adjective
morné(e) means:
sans langue, sans dents, sans ongles et des oiseaux sans bec ni serres ("without tongue, without teeth, without nails, and, of birds, without beak or claws"). English heraldry uses the terms "armed" and "langued" for the teeth, claws and tongue of heraldic beasts, thus
mornée might be translated as "dis-armed". Thus the English "martlet" is not the same heraldic creature as the French
"merlette". ==Early usage==