Proper

In heraldry, the term proper indicates either (1) normal or natural colouration, or (2) a standard colouration used in heraldry. As an oversimplified example, 'a tree proper' has green leaves and a brown trunk, whereas 'a tree vert' is green all over.

Table of Proper Colours by Charge

Most heraldic beasts have no proper colour as they are mythical creatures who only exist in heraldry. A creature who may have any of a number of different colourings, including brown, for instance a bear, may be blazoned a brown bear proper.

Charge	Proper Colours	Tincture Class
Acorn	Brown	Colour
Antler/Ivory	White or light yellow brown	Metal
Arrow	Brown shaft, black head, tincture of fletching specified	Colour
Axe	No defined proper tincture	n/a
Barbed and seeded	Green sepals, yellow seeds	Ignored
Bear	No default; must be specified	n/a
Boar	Brown	Colour
Bread	Brown	Colour
Bull/Cow	No default; must be specified	n/a
Camel	No default; must be specified	n/a
Carrot	No defined proper tincture	n/a
Cherub	No defined proper tincture	n/a
Chough	Black with red beak and legs	Colour
Cloves	Dark brown	Colour
Daisy	Argent seeded Or	Metal
Deer/Stag	Brown	Colour
Dog/Wolf	No default; must be specified	n/a
Dolphin	Green with red fins	Colour
Dolphin, natural	Grey	Metal
Dove	White with pink or red beak and legs	Metal
Elephant	Grey with white tusks	Metal
Falcon	Brown	Colour
Fire/flame	Alternately red and yellow or yellow and red	Neutral
Ford	A base wavy barry wavy blue and white	Neutral
Fountain	A roundel barry wavy blue and white	Neutral
Fox	Red with black "socks" and white at tip of tail	Colour
Hammer	Sable shafted of brown wood	Colour
Hare	Brown	Colour
Harp	Brown	Colour
Horse	No default; must be specified	n/a
Humans/human parts	Caucasian by default, i.e., pink or white (See also Moor)	Metal
Ibex	Brown	Colour
Ladybug	No defined proper tincture	n/a
Lavender	Purple flowers, green leaves and stem	Colour
Leaf	Green (sometimes with a brown stem)	Colour
Leather/leather items	Brown	Colour
Mermaid	Caucasian human with green tail and yellow hair	Neutral
Moor	Brown with black hair	Colour
Moose	Brown	Colour
Mouse	No default; must be specified	n/a
Owl	No default; must be specified	n/a
Parchment	Tan or yellow	Metal
Peacock	Mostly blue and green with "eyes" in the tail	Colour
Pickaxe	Black, shafted brown	Colour
Pomegranate	Green, seeded red	Colour
Popinjay	Green with red details	Colour
Rabbit	Brown	Colour
Rainbow	(on colour field: from top to bottom) Yellow, red, green, white; white clouds	Metal
	(on metal field from top to bottom) Blue, green, gold, red; cloud color must be specified	Colour
Rainbow, natural	(from top to bottom) Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, white clouds	Neutral
Raven	Black	Colour
Rose	Red, barbed green and seeded yellow	Colour
Seraph	Caucasian skin, red hair, multicolored wings	n/a
Slipped and leaved	Brown or green stem and green leaves	Colour
Stone/stone items	Gray	Metal
Sword	White with yellow hilt and quillons	Metal
Thistle	Green sepals, stem, leaves; purple or red flower	Colour
Tiger	No default; must be specified	n/a
Tree	Brown trunk, green leaves	Colour
Urchin	Brown with white face and belly	Colour
Weaver's slea	Brown	Colour
Wood/wooden items	Brown	Colour
Zebra	White striped black	Metal

See further discussion under colour.