is a heraldic bird, represented as an eaglet displayed, but without beak
or claws. Some writers confound it with the martlet, stating that the
alerion is the same bird with its wings displayed or extended. They are
first found in the arms of Lorraine, which are blazoned _or, on a bend
gules, three Alerions argent_, and are said to be assumed in commemoration
of an extraordinary shot made by Godfrey de Boulogne, "who at one draught
of his bow, shooting against David's Tower in Jerusalem, broched three
feetless birds called Alerions, which the House of Lorraine, decending
from his race, continued to this day." It is impossible, says Planché, who
broached this wonderful story, but it is perfectly evident that the
narrator was the party who drew the longbow, and not the noble Godfrey.
[Illustration: Alerion displayed.]
[Illustration: Heraldic Eagle.]
The letters of the word ALERION appear to be merely an anagram formed by
the same letters LORAINE, and may account for the birds on the shield
(probably eaglets) being called alerions.
The eagle displayed and the two-headed eagle are but extreme
conventionalised representations of the natural bird.