Bramblepoint steam machine / too long

Unlike Towhee, Phox was rather friendly when it came to strangers. In fact, he liked meeting new folks. (Oh, how his mother would have hated that.) "Feather," he repeated, having gotten better lately with his T pronunciation. The stranger explained that she'd found a feather, but not much beyond that. She seemed curious about what bird had lost its feather, which was a little curious in itself.

"Think he wants it back?" Phox asked, unaware that his question might be taken as a joke. "Can he fly without it?" Feathers certainly didn't seem a whole lot like fur, even though birds had a lot of them. They were stiff in the middle, and Phox wondered if feathers were more like a million little tails stuck to the bird's body.