To be able to name the different sorts of feathers to be picked up on
any woodland walk is an interest like that of the knowledge of flowers,
which allows one to give each wayside blossom its name. The gamekeeper
may put by the more beautiful feathers he finds for presents to his
friends. The jay is killed for an egg-thief, but his blue and black
wing is borne afterwards to church on the hat of a village maiden. The
keeper has an appreciative eye for the burnished metallic hues of the
feathers of cock pheasants of every kind. What greatly pleases him
is to point out to the ignorant the existence of those two peculiar
feathers in the wings of woodcock--the tiny, stiff, pointed feathers,
growing close against the base of the first flight feather's shaft in
each wing. These he could pick out in the dark by sense of touch. They
are to be found in snipe's wings--in which they are lighter in colour,
and even more minute--and in other birds, but it would be difficult to
say what particular purpose they serve beyond a finish or covering for
the exposed edge of the first flight feather. An unwritten law entitles
the shooter of a woodcock to these particular feathers, and formerly
the etiquette of sport allowed him to wear them in reasonable numbers
in his hat. To-day one may sometimes see them in the hard hat of the
poulterer. Painters in olden times appreciated the stiff points of the
feathers for delicate work. And there was an agent on a Scotch shoot
whereon woodcock are plentiful who maintained the national reputation
for thrift by using the feathers as nibs for writing. But we suspect he
did more woodcock shooting than quill-driving.
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