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A
Few Questions of Heraldry - CHAPTER IX,
pp 115
A
Few Questions of Heraldry
The Merles of France
 Efforts
have been made to find in heraldry evidence of relationship
between the Merrills of England and the Merles of France,
but the search has yielded negative results. French books
of heraldry give the armorial bearings of the Merle family
of Auvergne as Sable, three merles (blackbirds)
(*) argent, and other families
of the same name on the Continent bear merles and
merlettes in various numbers and colors, as the
chief charges on their shields.
A
correspondent expressed to me the belief that the three
blackbirds used in coat-armor on one side of the English
Channel, and three peacocks' heads used on the other,
indicated a possible community of blood--but the idea
seems too fanciful to be taken seriously.
NEXT
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(*) "De sa.
à trois merles d'arg."--"Armorial. Général,"
by J. B. Rietstap, vol. 2, p. 205.
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