2 
wing coverts in the cock are technically known as “blacks” and in the 
ia a. M2 . . . . 
hen as ‘“‘drabs,” while the tail quills or rectrices are known as “ tails.” 
ro tail and covert. feathers together are known as “short stuff” or 
*“ shorts.” 
Farming practice varies much as regards the taking of the tails and 
coverts. Sometimes they are not clipped at all, but allowed to remain 
until their quills are fully ripe when the entire feather is drawn. This is 
especially the case with chicks, where the shorts are worth but little. 
Plucking,* of course, save: the trouble of two separate operations instead 
cf one, chpping being omitted. Against this it is found that the feather 
undergoes some deterioration if, instead of being clipped when the vane 
or flue only is ripe it is allowed to remain on the bird u til the quill ‘also 
is fully mature. The feather is undoubtedly at its best and richest imme- 
diately the flue is fully open, and most farmers now clip both the tails and 
coverts, at any rate of their most valuable feather birds, and the stumps 
are drawn later. 
The tails and coverts come to ripeness in advance of the remiges, their 
quills being matured about the time the latter are ready for clipping. 
Hence the tails and coverts can be drawn at the time the wings are clipped, 
another two months being allowed for the quills of the latter to ripen; or, 
once established, the tails and coverts can be clipped a couple of months 
in advance of the clipping of the wings and their stumps drawn at the 
time the wings are clipped. : 
In any case it is advisable that the quills of the coverts (blacks or 
arabs) and of the wings should not be drawn simultaneously. The coverts 
should be drawn at least two months in advance of the wings, then the 
former are showing two cr three inches beyond the socket and are begin- 
ning to open at the time the guills of the wings are drawn. As a result 
of their advanced growth the coverts are able to protect from exposure the 
follicles of the remiges and the new feathers as they appear, and this pro- 
tection seems to have considerable influence on the new growth. 
Another consideration is worthy of mention in support of the practice 
of getting the coverts well started on their growth before the new wing 
feathers begin. It is a well-known principle in the physiology of animals 
that under ordinary conditions the amount of the nutritive blood distri- 
suted to any organ is in proportion to the needs of the organ. Much more 
blood is distributed to a growing feather than to one with its quill nearly 
or altogether ripened. Therefore when the two rows of coverts are in an 
active growing state a stronger stream of blood is passing to the wing than 
if they were all dormant. As a result of this more blood is already avail- 
able for the new germs of the wing feathers on their awakening to active 
growth as a result of the removal of the quill. Also the greater the sup- 
ply of blood which is passing to the entire wing the more likely is the sup- 
ply to be regular and constant, and thus each growing feather receives its 
due proportion. From this point of view the growth of any feather is more 
likely to be regular and uniform the greater the number of the other grow. 
ing feathers which are around it. Hence the advantage of the simul. 
taneous growth of all the feathers on the wing, both remiges and coverts 
alike. It has already been stated as a fact of e¢veryday experience that 
odd feathers growing alone are rarely ever as perfect as those growing in 
the crop; the blood supply to them seems diminished and irregular. 
*It may be noted that in ostrich farming the terms “ plucking,’ “clipping” and 
“qnilling” are used in a technical sense: Pluchivg for the drawing of the feather as a 
whole ; clipping for the removal of the plume portion of the feather along with a short 
portion of the quill ; and guilling for the drawing of the quill or stump only. 
