Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/549

* FEATHER. L97 FEATHER. male are rather more prized than 1 1n >^i- of the tie. They are cleaned for use by repeated ings and washings in water, sometimes with and sometimes without soap. There is also a process of bleaching by means of burning sulphur. When dried by being hung upon cords, the feath- ers pass into the hands of the dresser, who opens the fibres by shaking, gives pliancy to the ribs by scraping them with bits of glass, and curls the filaments by passing the edge of a blunt Unite over them. If the feathers, whether of the ostrich or any other bird, remain in the natural color, little more has to be done; but if a change of tint be required, the feather is easily dyed. A process of bleaching is adopted before the dye- ing, except for black. The kinds of feathers chiefly used for ornament arc those of the ostrich, adjutant, rhea or Ameri- can ostrich, emeu, osprey, egret, heron, bird of paradise, swan, turkey, peacock, argus pheasant, ibis, eagle, and grebe. White ostrich-feathers are prepared chiefly for ladies' headdresses and black for the Highland regiments and for funeral trappings. The white and gray marabout-stork leathers, imported from Calcutta, are beautifully soft and light, and are in request for head- dresses, muffs, and boas; the white kinds will sometimes sell for their weight in gold. The Bossy kinds of rhea-feather are used for military plumes, and the long brown wing-feathers for brooms and brushes. Osprey and egret feathers arc mostly used for military plumes by hussar troopers. Bird-of-paradise feathers are much sought after by Oriental princes for turban- plumes. Cocks' feathers are also used for ladies' riding-hats, and for military plumes. See AlCRET. Feathers in Costume. Feathers of birds have always formed a part of decorative dress of savages, and of those people removed above savagery, but still of low civilization. The most showy, and perhaps the most tasteful, use of feathers was probably in those 'feather cloaks' of which we read as a gala dress of the natives of tropical and subtropical America at the time of the Spanish Conquest. Similar decorative sur- faces have been produced by many peoples of low civilization, who can procure feathers of great brilliancy and variety of color. The feathers need little preparation, and the. system of mount- ing is the very simplest; what is wanted, then, is merely that power of arrangement of brilliant colors which is hardly ever lacking in peoples of low but established civilization. In another di- rection one of the most tasteful uses of feathers is that of the Zulu warriors, the men of the great military kingdom or empire constituted by Chacka in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. These soldiers, highly organized in- deed for native warfare, with weapons especially adapted to their purpose and an admirable sys- l' hi of military command, but defenseless as com- pared with Europeans armed with long-range villcs. attracted the attention of Europe by their magnificent resistance to the encroachments of the British. They wore no feathers nor other brilliant decoration except in time of actual con- flict, when each warrior's bead was adorned with as many and as splendid ostrich-feathers as even South Africa could furnish him. Somewhat in like manner the red Indians of North America used the eagle feather, and the placing of these in one or another part of the headdress or at one oi i i hi i angle bowed the tribe to which the wearer belonged. In Europe feat hei - have alwaj - bi en u ■ plumes in the hats or helmets of men and in the headdresses of women, although directly com bined with the hair-dressing (which see) or ar- i ed in a hat or cap. In i he sixteenth cent the flap hats of men of position or of military rank were adorned with drooping plumes dyed mi i iMnii colors, white being rather the excep lion, as is denoted by the famous white plume oi Henry IV., which was white because that was the color of the House of Bourbon. The epoch from about. is."o to ls.~>o was distinguished for the wearing of ostrich-plumes upon the lead in connection with the most elegant evening dress by the holies of France and Great Britain. At the same lime the chapeau-bnts, worn sometimes by military officers and sometimes by civilian officers, was decorated with a large ostrich -feather. usually at the front of the flat two-pointed hat and carried along what might be called its ridge, and secured to it at intervals to prevent its float ing off at one side. The famous chapeau of .Mural. Xapoleon's marshal and most famous of cavalry leaders, was adorned with a standing egret (aigrette), on each side of which wen- drooping ostrich-feathers. The curious and not graceful feather-like plume of certain military hats in the service of Great Britain seem to be composed of feathers much -mailer and less showy than ostrich-plumes, and the effect aimed at is a smooth, nearly conical mass. Cock-feath- ers are used for the hats of the Italian Bersa- glieri ; the very dark-colored feather-, with a curious metallic iridescence being the ones chosen. The egret is, however, more commonly worn by women, and is often set in the most elabo- rate and costly fashion in gold with precious stones. It is at certain epochs of fashion a headdress of special dignify. It appears that other feathers than the actual tuft of the egret heron are often used. Marabouts are used to adorn the edges of fans, their floating delicacy seeming to add to the lightness of the pretty implement itself. Swans' down, when used to trim gowns and children's dresses, may be con- sidered a humble imitation of the marabout. The interest in ornithology inspired originally by the work of Audubon has led to the formation of many societies with members pledged to wage a crusade against the killing of birds for the purposes of mere adornment. In some instances the destruction has proved so wanton that the extinction of certain feathered tribes has either followed or been narrowly averted. In the United States a league has been formed looking toward the protection by national legislation of such birds as arc likely to become the prey of mil- liners' agents. Commercial Uses. Since the introduction of the steel pen and the disappearance of the quill from correspondence, the chief commercial use of feathers other than adornment has been the stuf- fing of beds, cushions, and quilts. The introduc- tion of the quill toothpick followed as a result of the abandonment of the quill for writing. M. Bardin. of Paris, raised annually two million geese for tin- purpose of supplying tin- quills for writing. The substitution of the steel pen threat- ened to overwhelm him in disaster: and. in seeking for some other use for quills, he hit upon the toothpick.