Feather development grows, its spathe, which is where the rachis and vanes attach, continues to form. When spathe is finished developing, the calamus begins to form within the base of the spathe. The calamus is the quill of the feather, which is the bottom portion that stays mainly within the pulp cavity. From there, the feather is fully developed and will remain as such until molting occurs, causing it to fall off. Feathers fall off during molting, which occurs in the at different times through the year depending on the type of bird. Birds can molt for seasonal, reproductive and many other
Calamus (poems) sequence as written celebrates many aspects of "comradeship" or "adhesive love," Whitman's term, borrowed from phrenology to describe male same-sex attraction. This attraction is presented in its political, spiritual, metaphysical, and personal phases—Whitman offering it as the backbone of future nations, the root of religious sentiments, the solution to the big questions of life, and as a source of personal anguish and joy. The 1860 edition contains three poems that Whitman would later edit out of the sequence, including the very personal Calamus 8, "Long I thought that knowledge alone would suffice me," and Calamus 9, "Hours continuing long, sore