Weathercocks do not always show the real direction of a very gentle wind.
The strange figures of them, usually the productions of capricious fancy,
is one cause of their imperfection as vanes to indicate the wind. Griffins,
half-moons, foxes, or figures of St. Margaret and the dragon, are not good
shapes for weathercocks, which ought to be plain fans, the large surface of
one side being counterbalanced against the weight of the other.