Two other varieties of the griffin family, the "_Hippogriff_" and the
"_Simoorgh_" appear in the highly wrought imaginings of the poets, and may
here be very briefly alluded to. They do not, however, appear in British
Heraldry.
[Illustration: Male Griffin.]
HIPPOGRYPH, or HIPPOGRIF, the winged horse whose father was a griffin and
mother a filly (Greek, _hippos_, a horse, and _gryps_, a griffin)--a
symbol of love.[17]
SIMOORGH, a sort of griffin or hippogryph, which took some of its breast
feathers for Tahmura's helmet. This creature forms a very striking figure
in the epic poems of Saadi and Ferdusi, the Persian poets.
Milton also makes allusion to this mythical creature:
"So saying he caught him up, and without wing
Of hippogrif, bore through the air sublime
Over the wilderness and o'er the plain."
_Paradise Regained_, iv.
[Illustration: Opinicus statant.]