Quote Originally Posted by CelticRanger66 View Post
The interesting thing is here in America the wearing of eagle feather's are by federal law reserved for Native Americans only it is illegal for anyone else to wear them here.
Sort of, but that's not the full story. It's illegal for most people to wear bald eagle feathers, golden eagle feathers, and other feathers from eagles that are native to North America. However, there ARE eagle species on other continents that are not protected, such as the South African sea eagle, and armigers/chiefs can obtain them legally. Always be careful, though, because a lot of officials may not know the difference or the ins-and-outs of the law, and there is a lot of confusion due to wording of the law. For example, not even all Native Americans are legally allowed to possess bald eagle feathers-- only those who are members of legally-recognized tribes, which excludes thousands of Natives that are in tribes that have yet to be recognized, or who are not official members of a tribal group. To my knowledge, law enforcement typically lets that slide.

But an armiger who doesn't have legal access to eagle feathers will often wear feathers from other birds, such as hawks, pheasants, dyed turkey feathers, etc, and you can also buy immitation eagle feathers. More commonly these days, however, the feathers are cast from silver and attached directly to the armiger's cap badge. They're usually only an inch or so tall, as today's style is more subdued.

Personally, if I were not an armiger, I wouldn't wear a feather in my cap that sticks out much at all (including a long pheasant feather, which armigers have been known to use to denote their status); if anything, it would be a small plume or hackle that wouldn't be confused with a feather sticking out of the cap badge. And, yes, I'd call it macaroni . Or perhaps more appropriately, I'd stick a feather in my cap and call it MacAroni