Feathers are used to instill smooth flight and keep birds warm.The are also protection for both birds and porcupines.They come in a now diverse range of colors and sizes.

you will often come across a pigeon feather just lying around on the floor.Feather were also useful the ancient humans for certain feathers were able to turn into quills.(old time pens)

The basic 3 parts of a feather are

1. Rachis  

       - the feathers stem

 2. Barbs 

-  the soft strokes that make up the curved,smoothed surface of  feather.

 3. Calamus

the tip of a feather.

Contour feather are the ones you see overlapping the pristine patterns,basically the ones on top.They also shape the bird.(did you know: without the contour feathers, birds would be ridiculously distorted.

The most well known feather is the wing feather.It is the thing you would draw if asked to draw a feather.It's main use is to keep the bird in flight. A wing feather is also the one that once molted is used to make quills.

Wing feathers,also called remiges, are lengthy feathers that are mostly asymmetric. the stem (lead) is usually a bit shorter and more flexible so that the feathers don't twist mid- flight.

one big use of molted feathers were their ability to be molded into quills.You can make a quill on your own so first lets pick the perfect feather/quill for you!.

Before learning the perfect quill for you ou need to know some basic information abouit quills likle what exactly are they?

What is a quill?

Quills are feathers  which have a stem filled with an ink like substance.Quills can be made from any of the main wing or tail feathers of a bird

Goose feathers were the prominent source of quills but swan quills, though seldom, were more preferred. If you were making a fine lines quills, crows were better than either. Quill pens were also often made using  feathers of the eagle, owl, hawk, and turkey.