Feather in your bonnet

[creagdhubh]

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?

My guess would be purely for decoration/ornamentation (as is the case with many aspects of Highland dress and Highland Regimental dress), but used in a regulated/traditional sense by many Scottish Regiments in the past and by the Royal Regiment of Scotland today. In No. 1 and No. 2 pattern dress, all battalions of the Royal Regiment of Scotland wear Blackcock tail feathers attached to the Glengarry in a tradition taken from the Royal Scots and King's Own Scottish Borderers.

Cheers,