XXXI 



FEATHERS AND THE MOLT 



Down Developing into Feathers — What Makes Color in 

 Feathers? — Prohibition of Wearing Song-bird 

 Feathers Helps Sales of Commoner Feathers — Shop- 

 made Trimmings — Ducks for Feathers First — The 

 Dress of Birds for Protection — Feathers as Affecting 

 Laying — Experiments with Molting Hens — Foods 

 for Feathers — ^ Feathers Add most Value to Fowls 



The fancy fowl is pretty largely a creature of fine 

 feathers. But there is more to the question of feathers 

 than many are aware. Feathers are really but modifica- 

 tions of the skin. The down, the "hair," the barbules, 

 which hook together and make up the flat web of what 

 we call a quill feather, all are part of the same wonder- 

 ful covering. The close down upon the infant chick is 

 extended and shows itself as fluffy tips upon the first 

 natural feathers which follow it. These facts have long 

 been known. A more curious one is that the coloring 

 of the coats of birds is not always caused by pigments in 

 the body of the bird. Many times it is so caused. In 

 otlier instances it is caused by this color substance, in 

 combination with a special arrangement of the outer sur- 

 faces of the feathers. And again, as in the case of the 

 brilliant humming birds, it is due "to the structure of the 

 outer surface alone. White is not due to pigment, but 

 to the presence of innumerable air cells in the substance 

 of the feather." A study of feather structure, by 



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