Feather in your bonnet

[Nathan]

So it's not typically something you'd see civilians wearing nowadays outside of a band, dance uniform, correct?

[Jock Scot]

So it's not typically something you'd see civilians wearing nowadays outside of a band, dance uniform, correct?

Correct. I am not sure that they are that popular with civilian pipe bands and dancers over here, these days, either.

[Nathan]

Correct. I am not sure that they are that popular with civilian pipe bands and dancers over here, these days, either.

Makes sense to me, Jock. Like I said, I've only seen them in old photos and have seen plenty of pipe bands. They mostly have glengarrys with a simple badge. 99% of Highland dancers I see are female and don't wear any headdress and the one guy I saw in recent years wore a balmoral bonnet and clansman badge. So I think the style has evolved in a more or less parallell fashion regarding these blackcock feathers.

My Highland regiment didn't wear a hackle or bonnet feathers like this. We did, contrary to the taste of some, wear a square of matching tartan behind our badge on our TOS rather than a ribbon rosette but I digress...

[Harold Cannon]

When I was part of the a band we used hackles but I know of several civilian bands that used to use cock feathers. I think they look quite nice in the right setting.

[Singlemalt]

I understand that these are the tail feathers of black grouse, which are the less common cousins of the the more often harvested red grouse in Scotland. They look similar to the spruce grouse I was familiar with growing up in central Ontario. Pretty much all of the grouse family circumpolar are delicious to eat and are often sought out by people who "set out with dog and gu@" however we are not allowed to discuss such things here.

I hope, it is allowable that I can observe that it would be perfectly natural for rural people, who lived close to the land, who had harvested the bird for the meat to look at the magnificent tail feathers and seek for an opportunity to make use of them as well. It would serve two puposes it would be a signify that the wearer was a successful provider for his family and also a nod of respect to the bird who gave it's life to provide.

It is certainly something that would come naturally to this h@nter and gatherer.

[Jock Scot]

I hope that I am not going to cause too much upset here with contravening some rule or other, but out of interest, Singlemalt has raised an interesting point and I think is relevant to blackcock feathers not being worn as often with kilt attire than perhaps once was.

He is right, if and when a black grouse ended up in the "bag" not only were they eaten , but indeed the whole tail was cut off still attached to a piece of skin, to keep the feathers in proper order, and either kept as a trophy, or sold for the kilt attire market. Sadly these days the black grouse are not as common as they once were-------funnily enough shooting is not the main reason--------for a variety of reasons, loss of habitat, increase of vermin etc., and I am glad to say the decline has been halted and in most places are increasing in numbers. Make no mistake though they were never that common, rare no, scarce no and I am happy to report that in my bit of the highlands we have a healthy stock of black grouse. I understand that these days, most of the black grouse tails used in the kilt attire trade come from Scandinavia.

[Nathan]

It's always good news when stocks rebound and conservation efforts are successful. Thanks for the update on that, Jock. Singlemalt, I remember seeing grouse and partridge in Cape Breton and although I've never had the pleasure, being an avid angler but not a hunter, I understand that you're correct and they make for delicious eating.

[Jock Scot]

Just to fill in the gaps of your knowledge on black grouse, we know that the male of the species is called a black cock and what might not be known, the female is called a grey hen. The far more numerous Red Grouse, think grouse claw kilt pins and brooches, are only to be found within the confines of the British Isles.

[theborderer]

I'm well aquainted with hackles which are a regimental form often denoting battle honours but I've never seen backcock feathers used in a military context.

So what IS the deal with these blackcock feathers?

The Blackcock feather is part of the No 1 Dress for Scottish Regiments and is worn only with the No 1 Dress Jacket, as opposed to the coloured hackles which identify the various Battalions of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. No 1 Dress shown in Photo.

[Singlemalt]

It's always good news when stocks rebound and conservation efforts are successful. Thanks for the update on that, Jock. Singlemalt, I remember seeing grouse and partridge in Cape Breton and although I've never had the pleasure, being an avid angler but not a hunter, I understand that you're correct and they make for delicious eating.

Probably most of what you saw in Cape Breton were Ruffed Grouse a somewhat different but even more tasty cousin of the Spruce Grouse. They are true grouse but in most of eastern Canada and New England where they are the most common native game bird they are commonly called partridge but actually that is a different family of birds which are not native to North America. It all gets more confusing as some European birds have been introduced here and now reproduce naturally like pheasants and Grey (Hungarian) Partridge.