(heraldry, of a crane)Standing on one leg, typically holding a stone in its other, raised leg.
1928, New England Historic Genealogical Society. Committee on Heraldry, A Roll of Arms, page 10:
Arms : Azure standing within a crown gold surmounting a conical mound in base vert a crane in her vigilance all silver.
1943, National Americana Society, Americana Illustrated, page 133:
Or, a crane in her vigilance, azure, standing in reeds proper.
1973, Helen B. Walter, Robert J. Walter, Nicola Walter and Descendants:
Quarterly; 1st and 4th azure, crane in his vigilance argent, gorged of a crown or; second and third[…]
1977, Lucia Liu Severinghaus, A Design for an Education Center at the International Crane Foundation, Baraboo, Wisconsin:
If by chance it falls asleep, the stone would drop and thus awaken it. In heraldry, the cranes most often were presented as in vigilance.
1983, Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society:
Crest. A crane in its vigilance. Motto. Vigilantia (Seal on Col Paumiér's will).
1992, Donald R. Mandich, Joseph Anthony Placek, Russian Heraldry and Nobility, Dramco:
KHVOSHCHINSKY -1- A : Per fess gules and azure, in chief fesswise a crescent points couped in pale Or, and in base a crane in its vigilance, proper.
Commonly found with pronouns (a crane in its vigilance, in her vigilance, in his vigilance, etc). This alludes to the fable that cranes kept themselves awake by standing on one leg and holding a stone in the other so that if they fell asleep they would drop it and it would wake them back up.
