THE FEATHERS. 
79 
shoots, just sufficient to mat them together when 
pressed close to the skin ; whereas, the side shoots 
of the quill-feather hook and grapple with one 
another, so as to make one firm and united sur- 
face. Some idea of this may he formed from the 
annexed figures, the second of which represents a 
piece of the finest down magnified. 
But others there are, much stronger and stiffier 
than the wing quill-feathers, as those, for instance, 
forming the tails of the Woodpecker tribe. And the 
