Feather These barbules have minute hooks called barbicels for cross-attachment. Down feathers are fluffy because they lack barbicels, so the barbules float free of each other, allowing the down to trap air and provide excellent thermal insulation. At the base of the feather, the rachis expands to form the hollow tubular "calamus" (or quill) which inserts into a follicle in the skin. The basal part of the calamus is without vanes. This part is embedded within the skin follicle and has an opening at the base (proximal umbilicus) and a small opening on the side (distal umbilicus). Hatchling birds of some
A Donkey, 3 Rocks, and a Bird. of completion, plus the founder's mark for Will Willie. The Smithsonian Institution describes the work as abstract. Its condition was deemed "well maintained" by Smithsonian's "Save Outdoor Sculpture!" program in November 1993. A Donkey, 3 Rocks, and a Bird. A Donkey, 3 Rocks, and a Bird., also known as Donkey, Bird and Rocks and Donkey, Three Rocks, and a Bird, is an outdoor 1992 sculpture by Brad Rude, installed at Catlin Gabel School in West Haven-Sylvan, a census-designated place in Washington County and the Portland metropolitan area, in the U.S. state of Oregon. Brad Rude's "A Donkey, 3 Rocks, and