Martlet  A martlet in English heraldry is a heraldic charge depicting a stylised bird similar to a swift or a house martin, with stylised feet. It should be distinguished from the "merlette" of French heraldry, which is a duck-like bird with a swan-neck and chopped-off beak and legs. The word "martlet" is derived from the bird known as the martin, with the addition of the diminutive suffix "-let"; thus martlet means "little martin". The origin of the name martin is obscure, though it may refer to the festival Martinmas, which occurs around the same time martins begin their migration from Europe to Africa. These heraldic 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 anciently they were believed to have none at all. Sooty Terns really do spend years in continuous flight, which lends credence to the legend of the legless Martlet. 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", is a male blackbird, a member of the thrush family. A "merlette" in common parlance 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 birds without beak or claws").