"Now let us look at the other part of the stem. It is called the shaft. Suppose you strip your feather and then examine it. What can you say about it?""The quill of the feather is round," said Norah, "but this part has four sides. The upper and under sides are smooth, like the surface of the quill, the other two sides are rough. It was from these edges of the shaft that we tore off the web just now. I can see, too, that the shaft becomes smaller and smaller towards the tip.""Quite right," said Fred. "Now we will go a step farther. Watch, while I cut through the shaft as we did through the quill just now. This part of the stem, you see, is not hollow like the quill. It is filled with a loose, white, tough substance-the pith.
"We have done with the quill and the shaft now,"he continued. "I want you to turn your attention to the other part of the feather, which teacher calls the web.
"If you examine this web you will see that it is made of a great many long, narrow, thin blades- the barbs. These spring from the shaft, and are arranged with their two flat sides close together.