Note 759 — Chapter LVIII · FEATHERS PLUCKED OUT BY THE ROOT

In Forty-Five Years of Sport, by J. H. Corballis, 1891, the author says that if a wing- or tail-feather be accidentally pulled out, the hole should at once be plugged with cotton-wool dipped in grease or honey to keep it open, and that if the plug be kept in its place for a few days a new feather will probably make its appearance. “If a feather should be plucked out, base and all, it is advisable to put some solid grease into the place, to keep it from closing up and preventing the new feather from growing down.”—The Art and Practice of Falconry, by E. B. Mitchell, page 161. Tail-feathers will grow again, but most falconers are agreed that flight-feathers plucked out do not grow again. I once tried the operation mentioned by our Persian author, but no new feathers grew.