Quill feather

“ Take, for instance, a plain feather—say the tail feather of an eagle. The long quill is made of feather-bone, that wonderfully light, yet strong material that forms the rigid part of all feathers, so tough that it is almost impossible to break it, yet so flexible it will bend into a circle and then spring back like a bit of whalebone! Nothing that man has ever been able to make can equal it. ”

“ When it is far enough in, pass a small needle with strong waxed thread right through both quills, starting from below, and, winding the two ends of the thread round the quills in opposite directions, tie tightly together underneath the feather. When the feather is big enough there may be two such lashings of thread, one a little lower down than the other. A second plan, which is known as plugging, consists in first stuffing up the hollow quill, of the injured feather, above where it has been cut through, with a chunk of some feather which is not hollow, but has a solid pith. ”

“ Round the lower part of the neck both sexes, the female as well as the male, are furnished with a broad white ruff of downy feathers, which forms the line of separation between the naked skin above and the true feathers covering the body below it. All the other feathers, with the exception of the wing coverts, and the secondary quill feathers, are of a bright black, generally mingled with a grayish tinge of greater or less intensity. In the female the wing coverts are blackish gray; but the males have their points, and frequently as much as half their length, white. ”

“ The upper side of their quill feathers is a dark-blue tinged with black. A streak is formed by feathers nearly of this colour, along the upper parts of the wings, and crossing the back a little above the tail. ”

“ When a feather is nipped off with pincers or cut with a knife the bird is quite insensible to the operation. The stumps that are left in the flesh of the ostrich fall out in the course of a month or six weeks, or can be easily drawn out, and then a new and good feather grows in place of the old one. The reason why plucking still finds advocates is that the feathers with the entire quill bring a higher price in the market than those that have been cut or nipped.
Harry and Ned watched with much interest the process of removing feathers from the birds. ”

“ Once again the chick comes out and walks to a little way from its mother. Having preened itself, it goes back to her, and then flaps its little wings. The quill feathers are growing and look just about an inch long. They are a good deal separated from one another, and have a very feeble appearance. Still, they might serve to make a fall a long fall, which is all that would be required of them to take their owner to the sea. The preening over, the chick, with considerable insistence, burrows once more under its mother's wing, and I now leave, it being all mist and raining into mist. ”

“ The feathers on the head and nape are light reddish brown, spotted with black; those on the back and wing-covers are spotted in the centre with black; the throat-feathers are red, those on the back and belly dark purplish brown, with numerous markings; the quills are dark brown, and the quill-feathers, except the four in its centre (which are striped red and black) are entirely black; the plumage on the legs has a reddish shade and dark markings; the tarsi and toes are covered with whitish feathers. The eye is nut-brown, the beak black, and the powerful claws of a whitish hue. ”

“ The collar bones are united (why?) and form the “wishbone” or “pulling bone.” To furnish surface for the attachment of the large flying muscles there is a prominent ridge or keel on the breastbone (Fig. 286) . It is lacking in most birds which do not fly (Fig. 289) .
The feathers are perhaps the most characteristic feature of birds. The large feathers of the wings and tail are called quill feathers. A quill feather (Fig. 291) is seen to consist of two parts, the shaft, or supporting axis, and the broad vane or web. What part of the shaft is round? Hollow? Solid? Is the shaft straight? ”

“ The species are exceedingly numerous, and are spread over most parts of the world; several abound in our own woods and hedges, and the "sacred bird" of our childhood, the Robin Redbreast, is among the number. That now before us is a native of Brazil, from whence it was received by Mr. Leadbeater; I never met with it myself. The first quill feather is hardly shorter than the three next, which are all of equal length; the tail-feathers are even, and rather pointed; their colour black, margined with grey ”

“ A curious curve is to be remarked in the anterior part of the spread wing, at first backwards towards the tail, and then again forwards towards the head. All the primary quills seem to partake of this shape, and they are also very noticeably disjoined one from another, so that the interspace, even whilst the wing is beaten, looks almost as wide as the quill—by which I mean the whole feather—itself. ”

“ The secondary quill feathers of both sexes are white on the outer side. The tail is short and wedge shaped. The legs are excessively thick and powerful, and are colored of a blueish gray, intermingled with whitish streaks. ”

“ Of considerable importance is the fact that whilst in the hoatzin and the fowl and its allies the quill feathers appear long before the contour feathers of the body—that is to say, whilst the body is still clothed in down—in the nidifugous young of ground-breeding forms such as the plovers, for example, which seek protection by concealment alone, unaided by flight, the quill feathers appear together with the contour-feathers of the body and at a much later date than in the above. ”

“ A quill or feather is also suspended from it for every enemy that the warrior has slain in battle. They often suspend from their ears wampum beads, silver and tin trinkets, and they are fond of bracelets and rings. ”

“ Am. B. 1864, 42.—Sclater, P. Z. S. 1859, 340.—Ib. Catal. 1861, 8, No. 30.—Cooper, Birds Cal. 1, 12.
Sp. Char. First quill rather shorter than the sixth. Tail slightly graduated. Above brownish-ash; each feather obsoletely darker in the centre. Beneath dull white, thickly marked with triangular spots, except on the under tail-coverts and around the anus, which regions are tinged with yellowish-brown. Wing-coverts and quills edged with dull white. Tail feathers brown; the outer edged, and all (except, perhaps, the middle) tipped with white. Length, 8 inches; wing, 4.85; tail, 4.00; tarsus, 1.21. ”

“ The vanes and shafts of the feathers can be seen by the naked eye. Fourteen long quill feathers diverge on each side of the metacarpal and phalangial bones, and decrease in length from 6 inches to 1 inch. The wings have a general resemblance to those of gallinaceous birds. The tarso-metatarsal, or drumstick, exhibits at its distal end a trifid articular surface supporting three toes, as in birds. The furculum, pelvis, and bones of the tail are in their natural position. The tail consists of twenty vertebrae, each of which supports a pair of plumes. ”

“ In colour this bird resembles a large moth, being most beautifully and delicately streaked and mottled with various shades of black, brown, grey, and buff, but in appearance it is not unlike a hawk, having long pointed wings more than seven inches in length, and a tail about five inches long. The male differs from the female in having a large heart-shaped spot upon the inner web of the first three quill feathers, and broad white tips to the two outer tail feathers on each side. ”

“ Now, in a ripe Feather (as one may call it) it seems difficult to conceive how the Succus nutritius should be convey’d to this pith; for it cannot, I think, be well imagin’d to pass through the substance of the quill, since, having examin’d it with the greatest diligence I was able, I could not find the least appearance of pores; but he that shall well examine an unripe or pinn’d Feather, will plainly enough perceive the Vessel for the conveyance of it to be the thin filmy pith (as ’tis call’d) which passes through the middle of the quill. ”

“ This bird may be ranked with the elegant part of the feathered creation, though it is by no means gay. The bill, legs, and feet are of a rich scarlet; crown black, and the remainder of the plumage of a light ash-colour, except the quill feathers, which are prettily barred, and tipped with black, and the tail much forked. The flight, or extent of wing, in this bird, is very great, in proportion to the body. They are found as far North as has hitherto been visited, but retire to the South early in the Fall. ”

“ The central axis is divisible into two distinct parts,—a hollow, cylindrical, transparent calamus, or “quill,” the base of which is inserted into the skin, and a solid, quadrangular rhachis or “shaft” which supports the vane. At the lower end of the quill is a small hole—the lower umbilicus—through which the nutritive pulp passes during the growth of the feather: while at the upper end, where it passes into the shaft, a similar hole will be found,—the upper umbilicus—and from this the last remains of the capsules which contained the nutritive pulp may sometimes be seen protruding. ”

“ At the upper end of this ornament an eagle's feather is affixed horizontally, the quill end of which is covered with red cloth, and the tip is ornamented with a bunch of horse-hair dyed yellow. The lower white half of the feather is frequently dyed red with vermilion, and the quill covered with dyed porcupine quills. [221] When the Indians are not in their best dress, when they are travelling, or going to the chase, they fasten their long hair in a thick bunch. ”

“ The legs are short, thick, strong, and placed very far backwards; the feet are provided with long toes. The wings are long, but rounded at their apices, their third quill being the longest. The tail is long, and consists of twelve quill-feathers, each of which becomes considerably increased in breadth towards its extremity. The general plumage is handsome, and brightly coloured, the feathers upon the upper surface being much elongated, while those on the under side of the body are so lax as to resemble fur. ”

“ Butler are, the discovery that the first primary is present in these families is not new.
In 1888 (Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. p. 664) , Dr. Gadow says of those families in which the first primary has been supposed to be absent, "The tenth quill [1] is, as a rule, reduced to a tiny feather, which is hidden between the 10th covert and outer vane of the 9th quill." From this article we see also that an eleventh primary is frequently present in front of the tenth (our "first") primary, but that this eleventh quill is completely lost in many families of Passerine birds. ”

“ If blood can be squeezed from the quill Wing
feathers. it is considered as a sign that the bird is of the year. If no blood can be squeezed, and the feather is old and dry, it is considered as a sign that the bird is more than a year old.
Diagrammatic Representation of the Growth of Primaries in the Young Grouse.
This reasoning is based upon the following facts: When the chick produces its first set of primary wing feathers they are all very thin and weak, and soon become frayed out; they have rather narrow pointed ends, arc blackish-brown, in colour mottled with incomplete buff bars. ”

“ The abrupt changes from quill feathers to nestling down observable in the wing of the chick and turkey seem to show that the quills have undergone a process of forcing or accelerated development, in which the inner quills have developed at an excessively rapid rate, so as to out-distance their fellows at the distal or outer extremity of the wing, which as yet are only represented by nestling down. ”

“ Their structure and arrangement are adjusted to as perfect symmetry, as their colours are soft and brilliant. The parts which form the centre of these little feathers, and which immediately touch the wing, are the strongest; those, on the contrary, which compose the exterior circumference, are much more delicate, and of an extraordinary fineness. All these feathers have a quill at their base, but the superior part is more transparent than the quill from which it proceeds. If we lay hold of the wing too rudely, we destroy the most delicate part of the feathers ”

“ Lower mandible yellow, except at the tip. Body above olivaceous, strongly tinged with ashy towards and on the head. Beneath pale yellowish-brown, darkest on the legs and abdomen, becoming lighter to the bill. An elongated spot of dark plumbeous behind the eye. Inner edges of the quills and under wing-coverts like the belly. Tail-feathers, except the central, black, with a sharply defined tip of white for about an inch, this color not extending along the outer web of the quill. ”

“ From the head, backwards to the tail, the feathers increase in strength and size; those on the face, or round the base of the bill, being smallest, the tail-coverts longest. Immediately covering the base of the wing-quills are a row of feathers on both surfaces of the wing; these are the quill-coverts.
The most brilliant feathers are found in birds of warm climates, and the more tropical the climate the more dazzling and brilliant is the plumage. In many species the brilliant plumage is confined to the males, while that of the females is dark and sombre. ”

“ The body is large and cylindrical, the neck long and slender; the feet are small, toes long, and connected by a broad web. In the large broad wing, the third quill exceeds the rest in length; the tail, which is short, broad, and rounded, consists of twenty or twenty-four feathers. The plumage is thick, but remarkably hard and stiff; besides the almost naked sac beneath the throat, there is a considerable space around the eye completely denuded of feathers. The two sexes resemble each other very closely, but considerable differences serve to distinguish the old birds from the young. ”