NATURE NOTES. 
I3<5 
Should any one wish to experiment on this point let him place a 
green parrot’s feather on the wild duck page, or mix pheasant’s 
and guinea fowl’s plumage, and note the jarring result. One learns 
a lesson as to the exquisite harmony of tints in bird plumage 
which would teach many a fashionable lady how to combine 
colours to the best advantage. 
A common wood-pigeon is an easy bird to begin with, and 
readily obtained at any poulterer’s. Draw out the tail feathers 
and place them quite flat in some paper till required; do the 
same with the right wing and the left, keeping each separate 
and putting a mark on the papers that you may know which 
each contain^ ; the back, the breast, the fluffy feathers beneath 
—all should be neatly folded in paper and marked, and this 
can be done in the evening or at odd times, but placing the 
feathers on the pages ought to be daylight work that the colours 
may be studied. Now open the tail feather packet, and with 
the razor carefully pare away the quill at the back of each 
feather ; this requires much practice, but at last it is quickly done 
and only the soft web is left which will be perfectly flat when 
gummed upon the page. When all the packets are thus 
prepared (it is only the quill feathers that require the razor), 
then we may begin. 
I will describe a specimen page, but the arrangement can be 
varied endlessly, and therein lies one of the charms of the work. 
One never does two pages alike — there is such scope for taste 
and ingenuity — and it becomes at last a most fascinating occupa- 
tion. Towards the top of the page place a thin streak of gum, 
lay upon it a tail feather (the quill end downwards), and put one 
on either side. The best feathers of one w’ing may be put down, 
one after the other, till one has sufficiently covered the page, then 
the other wing feathers may be placed dowm the other side ; the 
centre may be filled in with the fluffy feathers, and the bottom 
can be finished off with some breast feathers neatly placed so as 
to cover all quill ends. When one works with small plumage a 
wreath looks very pretty, or a curved spray beginning at the top 
with the very smallest feathers and gradually increasing in size 
to the bottom of the page. 
Butterflies or moths made of tiny feathers add much to the 
effect, and they are made thus. Cut out the shape of the butter- 
fly in note paper and cover both sides with thick gum. When 
quite dry, moisten one wing and lay the small feathers on, like 
tiles on a house roof, one over the other, in any pattern desired ; 
when the second wing is done lay a suitable feather along to 
form the body and let all become dry. Then moisten the gum 
on the under side and press the butterfly firmly on the page — 
the legs and antennae can be added very delicately with a pen 
afterwards. I made a butterfly of the prismatic hues of the 
pigeon’s neck and placed it in the middle of the fluffy feathers of 
the pigeon page, w T here it looks charming. A small parrakeet 
may be showm in the act of flying if the page is large enough to 
