quills

• Since his quills are always exposed, it's been hard for him to fit into the mediocrity balloon without popping it. —  Recidivism.
• Its tail is formed chiefly by an enormous elongation of the two tail quills, and of the secondary wing feathers, no two of which are exactly the same, and the closer they are examined the greater is seen to be the extreme beauty of their markings, and the rich varied harmony of their colouring When a male Argus wishes to show off his magnificence to his spouse--or when she asks him to show it off we know not which--he makes a circle in the forest some ten or twelve feet in diameter, which he clears of every leaf, twig, and branch. —  Blown to Bits The Lonely Man of Rakata, the Malay Archipelago
• Even the fungi of the departmental desks, seeming suddenly imbued with life, rose and threw away their quills--and with them the very bread for their families--to go South. —  Four Years in Rebel Capitals An Inside View of Life in the Southern Confederacy from Birth to Death
• To this they (the goose-quills, not the friends) have often assisted me ere now. —  Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 101, August 22, 1891
• He is a veritable porcupine, and his quills are always rising He has the worst of it. —  Phebe, Her Profession A Sequel to Teddy: Her Book

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