Amongst the Romans, these auguries were taken usually upon an eminence: after the month of March they were prohibited in consequence of the moulting season having commenced; nor were they permitted at the waning of the moon, nor at any time in the afternoon, or when the air was the least ruffled by winds or clouds.

avoit la dame moult de belles maisons et moult riches.

A moulting chicken makes but a sorry dish.

Dame de mère, la Princesse, qui estoit en un chastel de la Riolle (que l'on dit la Garderobbe la Reyne) et là s'estoit tenue deux jours et deux nuits, moult ébahie; et avoit bien raison.

And there is no knave to the barbarous knave, the moulting knave, the pleading knave.

He was tall and bent of figure, with the serpent-browed head set deep between hunched shoulders like those of a moulting vulture.

The sunny moments slipped away as the sunlit waters slipped under the bridge; a bird or two, shy and songless in their moulting fever, came to the stream to drink, looking up, bright eyed, at the two who sat there in the mid-day silence.