Pennaceous feather Pennaceous feather The pennaceous feather is a type of feather present in most modern birds and in some other species of maniraptoriform dinosaurs. A pennaceous feather has a stalk or quill. Its basal part, called a "calamus", is embedded in the skin. The calamus is hollow and has pith formed from the dry remains of the feather pulp, and the calamus opens below by an "inferior umbilicus" and above by a "superior umbilicus". The stalk above the calamus is a solid "rachis" having an umbilical groove on its underside. Pennaceous feathers have a rachis with "vanes" or "vaxillum " spreading
What a queer bird What a queer bird "What a queer bird" is a poem of unclear origin. It first can be found in print in 1922, rapidly disseminating across dozens of publications in the United States that year. "What a queer bird" is a poem, folk song, or essay that may be sung as a round. It first can be found in print in 1922, rapidly disseminating across dozens of publications in the United States that year, but its precise origin is unclear. The words are as follows: In 1922, multiple United States publications attributed the poem or essay to "a young Norwegian