Re: John Smith (the Pocahontas one)
Posted: 17 Sep 2012, 10:51
It is the horseshoe that confirms both are ostriches.
Ah yes. Ostriches are usually depicted holding a metallic object in their beaks. The artist who did the first picture clearly had no idea what an ostrich looked like, nor had he heard of the "metallic object in beak" convention. Conrad Swan's heraldic artist colleague was better acquainted with both ostrich and conventional depiction thereof.