234 WITH THE U. S. NATURALISTS 



''Can you stick the barbs together again?" 



''No," said Shan; "that's what I tried to do 

 before. ' ' 



"Why not?" 



"I don't know, sir," came the reply. 



"If you'll wait here just a moment," said the 

 Feather Man, "I'll show you why." 



He went into the house, returning a moment 

 later with a large double magnifying glass, which 

 he handed to the boy. 



"This is better than a microscope for you," he 

 said, "and will show you all that you can learn 

 to-day. Now, look at this feather. It's from an 

 ordinary domestic turkey, one of the contour 

 feathers. Look at the edge of the quill first. 

 Pens used to be made from goose quills." 



Shan peered through the glass. 



"Jutting out from the quill," he said, "I can see 

 what looks like a lot of small feathers growing out 

 on the sides." 



"That is right," said the Feather Man. 

 "Every feather is divided, first of all, into the 

 'quill' and the 'vane.' The vane looks as if it 

 were made up of smaller feathers, only, in these 

 smaller offshoots of feather, what would corre- 

 spond to the quill is called a 'barb,' and what 



