Andrew Smithfield, age 13, of Middletown, Ohio, for his question:
WHAT KIND OF FEATHERS ARE USED IN PILLOWS?
Feathers used for stuffing pillows, quilts and upholstery are judged on the basis of springiness, shape, texture, odor, density and ability to hold up under weight. Size is also an important factor.
The finest feather stuffed pillows contain a mixture of three fourths goose or waterfowl down and one fourth goose feathers. Goose feathers alone, or a mixture of goose and duck feathers, can also make fine fillings for pillows. Down alone does not have the needed ability to hold up under weight. Chicken and turkey feathers also make poor stuffing for pillows. They are stiff, hard, heavy and have little bounce. They also tend to mat.
Birds have two chief kinds of feathers: contour and down.
Contour feathers are the large, fern shaped feathers that cover the wings, body and tail. A contour feather has a very strong, flexible center shaft. The lower part of this shaft is called the quill.
The rachis, or upper part of the shaft, supports the web or vane, the flat part of the feather. The web is made up of and held together by parts called barbs, barbules and hooklets.
Barbs branch out from the shaft like the branches of a tree. Several hundred barbules branch out from each barb. The hooklets interlock with those on nearby barbules and hold the web together.
Down is a small, soft feather found beneath the outer feathers of ducks, geese and other waterfowl. Down has no central shaft. The silky fibers of down grow outward from a common center.
Until the steel pen was invented in the early 1800s, pens were almost exclusively made from feathers.
Designers often decorate hats and clothes with dyed or natural feathers. For many centuries, feathers have been a favorite decoration.
Manufacturers also often use feathers to make toothpicks and artists' brushes. The demand for feathers to make arrows has grown. In addition, manufacturers today still use feathers to make a limited number of quill pens.
Members of the National Audubon Society and other groups of bird lovers have long fought against killing wild birds for their feathers.
The aigrette, the long plumes of the white heron (the egret), was a popular ornamental feather in the 1800s. Hunters killed so many egrets for their feathers that the bird faced extinction. State and federal laws now protect the egret and other wild birds.
It is also now illegal to import feathers from wild birds into the United States.