Ig) 
at all pronounced, results in a serious depreciation of its value, partly on 
account of their constituting so many points of weakness in the feather 
and also from their interference with the regularity of its flue. The 
defects may be limited to the flue, but usually indents the shaft also. 
Other imperfections are generally associated with the barring defects, as 
the latter are usually connected with a lowered nutritive condition on the 
part of the feather. 
9. Summary.—The different characters as found in the most valuable 
feathers may be summarised as follows: —The plume should be as long and 
as broad as possible; the flue should be dense, compact, and even, the 
barbs and barbules crowded, the former coming off at right angles from 
the shaft and extending horizontally, the latter long; both shaft and 
barbs should be strong and flexible, but not thick and coarse, the barbs 
self-supporting; the sides of the flue should be equal and the margins 
parallel, not tapering towards either the tip or the butt end, and the 
barbs at any part should be of equal length and blunted, not tapering ; 
the whole plume should be lustrous and glossy to the feel, not dull, dry, 
and harsh; lastly, it should be free from barring and other defects. Prac- 
tically all these points can be condensed in the remark that the plumes 
should contain as much feather material as possible and symmetrically 
arranged. Trade requirements necessarily determine what the farmer 
should try to produce, and the above indicates these requirements. As in 
every other technical subject expertness in judging all the merits of a 
feather can only be attained by long experience. 
F.—.TravkE CLASSIFICATION OF OstRICH FEATHERS. 
Ostrich feathers are sold by weight, either by auction or out-of-hand, 
at a certain price per pound. When being disposed of by auction at the 
regular sales they are classified as under : — 
1. Whites.—These include nearly all the wing-quills of the cock bird, 
both primaries and secondaries, and number about 24 from each wing. 
They are the most valuable of all the feathers, and are pure white, any 
admixture of black cr grey placing them in a different class. According 
to quality they are classed as primes or supers, firsts, seconds, thirds, stalky 
and inferior. 
2. Feminas.—These are the wing-quills of the hen bird which cor- 
respond with the whites of the cock. They are distinguished by having 
more or less black pigment which gives a greyish appearance, sometimes 
only very faint, but enough to show their true nature. They are classed 
according to the amount of pigment as tipped, light or dark, and are 
eraded as supers, firsts, seconds, thirds, stalky and inferior. 
3. Fanries or Byocks.—Towards each extremity of the wing in the 
cock, the white wing quills pass gradually into the black feathers, and 
four or five feathers at each end are a parti-colour of black and white. 
They are generally very attractive plumes, and are known as fancies or 
byocks, and classed as /ong and short. 
4. Blacks.—These include the first: and second rows of wing coverts 
of the cock, and also the feathers sometimes plucked from the upper bor- 
ders of the humerus. According to their length they are arranged as 
long, medium, and short. If, as 1s sometimes the case, the blacks show 
much admixture of white, they are placed among the fancies. 
5. Drabs.—These are the corresponding covert rows in the hen, and 
are always greyish, not black. They are classed as Jong, medium, and 
short. 
6. Floss.—The feathers constituting the single row of under coverts 
are more delicate in texture than the others, and are technically known as 
floss, black floss from the cock and drab floss from the hen; the feathers 
