In Russia and in Holland quills were 
dipped in boiling alum-water or diluted 
nitric acid and then dried and clarified 
in a bath of hot sand. Goose quills 
were most used, turkey quills were 
prized by many, and swan quills were 
considered the best of all. Pens well 
made from swan quills often sold as 
high as four guineas a thousand, while 
goose quill pens were to be had at 
twenty shillings. For fine writing, 
crow-quills were considered best, and 
pen-and-ink drawings were generally 
produced with the black-plumed arti- 
cle. 
In 1832, to supplement the domestic 
products in the manufacture of pens, 
33,668,000 quills were imported into 
England. The trade has not been en- 
tirely killed by the advent of the steel 
pen, for there are yet among us repre- 
sentatives of the people of the olden 
time who delight in the pretty little 
squeak of the quill pen as it assists 
them in their literary labors. 
Man early learned to rob the birds of 
their coverings, not only for adorn- 
ment, but also for warmth. Feather 
beds were once reckoned as evidences 
of wealth. Modern science has pointed 
out the unhealthful condition of a bed 
made soft and gaseous with feathers. 
Few beds are now found of this sort 
among the better-informed people of 
America, but the traveler in the north- 
ern countries of Europe not only has 
to sleep on feathers but also under 
them. The down coverlet is as es- 
sential to a Danish bed as is clean 
linen. 
The newest palace of the German 
emperor is furnished in accordance with 
the Teutonic idea, and the visitor to the 
palace at Strasburg, when his majesty 
is not there, is shown his royal bed 
room with its single bed and double 
featherings. 
Downy feathers grow most abun- 
dantly on birds inhabiting cold regions. 
Many young birds have an abundance 
of downy feathers when first hatched. 
In some cases it is well formed before 
the egg is broken, firmly enclosed in a 
tight roll of membrane to keep it dry. 
On exposure to the air the membrane 
bursts and the down wraps the nestling 
in a comfortable coat. 
The stronger feather sometimes 
grows out of the same place as the 
downy one in such a way that it 
pushes out the down to the outside of 
the plumage and the bird appears to 
have his underwear outside his over- 
coat. 
The best eider-down is so light that 
three-quarters of an ounce of it will fill 
a large hat. It is so elastic that two or 
three pounds may be compressed into 
a ball that may be held in the hand. 
Some feathers have a second shaft 
growing out of the end of the quill so 
as to form a double feather, and in rare 
instances there are two of these growths 
from one quill, making a triple feather. 
Birds are warmer blooded than other 
animals. What is a dangerous fever 
temperature in the blood of man, is 
natural and ordinary in a bird. As 
birds fly rapidly, they could not live 
if they were perspiring creatures be- 
cause they would lose heat so fast. 
Feathers protect them from the sud- 
den changes of temperature and loss of 
heat and strength. 
Feathers are important to the bird to 
fly with; but even for this purpose they 
are not absolutely necessary. There 
are forms of animals that fly, as the bat 
does, with their skin to beat the air. 
There were once on the earth many 
more skin-flying animals than there are 
to-day. 
Feathers are modifications of the 
scarf-skin. Wherever the skin is ex- 
posed to sun, wind, or water it is mod- 
ified in some way to contribute to the 
well-being of the animal. The many 
forms of feathers make a most fascinat- 
ing study. 
A peculiar thing about them is that 
they are not vascular. Vascular means 
full of vessels. Almost everything that 
grows is vascular. It has tubes to 
carry in new material and little sacs or 
large ones to store substance for new 
growths. But dermal appendages, the 
forms that grow out of the scarf-skin 
and are modifications of it, are not vas- 
cular. Take a feather two feet long, 
and examine it to see how the feather 
material was carried from the begin- 
ning of the quill to the tip. You find 
no veins and no circulation. Yet 
feathers grow and their growth is quite 
