Encyclopedia of the Incas

The empire often reserved the finest garments, especially feather cloth, for its
soldiers. The description by Bernabé Cobo of soldiers’ attire indicates that the
men carried shields “covered on the outer side with a piece of fine cotton, wool
or feather cloth,” and over their defensive gear they “would usually wear their
most attractive and rich adornments and jewels; this included wearing fine
plumes of many colors on their heads” (Cobo 1990 [1653]).
Feathers also featured in ritual sacrifices, especially the Capac Hucha
sacrifices found on snow-clad mountains in southern Peru, Chile, and Argentina.
A sacrificed boy excavated on Mt. Aconcagua in Argentina wore a tunic made of
feathers that had been dyed red and yellow. The figurines accompanying the boy
wore headgear composed of toucan and scarlet macaw feathers. One of the
sacrificed girls found on the summit of Llullaillaco in Argentina wore a
headdress of white plumes attached to a woolen skullcap, echoing the feathered
headdress topping a silver figurine accompanying the young girl; her tomb also
contained a coca bag covered in red feathers (see Collasuyu; Capac Hucha).
Feathers were not only reserved to dress the living and the dead, but also to
decorate architecture. South of Cuzco, on the Island of the Sun in Lake Titicaca,
the Incas established one of the empire’s most important shrines (see Oracles).
Feathers covered two of the gateways leading to the sanctuary. One of these,
Kentipuncu, was covered with hummingbird feathers, while another,
Pillcopuncu, was adorned with the green feathers of a bird called pillco, a trogon
with red and brilliant green feathers.
The Incas used feathers from an extensive array of birds found in a wide range
of habitats. These include flamingos, native to the Peruvian highlands and the
coast, and rheas (the South American ostrich) that live in the desert puna of Peru
down to Chile and Argentina. According to Cobo, Spaniards used rhea feathers
for parasols and feather dusters. In addition, ancient weavers used the feathers of
water birds such as cormorants, herons, and ducks, also found in the highlands
and on the coast, and birds of prey (hawks, eagles, cara caras) and carrion
feeders (vultures, condors) with wide-ranging habitats.
The most sought after bird species were those from the cloud forest and
lowland, tropical rainforest. According to the chronicler Garcilaso de la Vega,
hunters trapped birds using nets strung up between trees. These nets probably
served to capture small birds such as hummingbirds while larger birds may have
been caught by using birdlime, a sticky substance spread on branches. The Incas
not only controlled the production and distribution of feather cloth and
ornaments, but also the sources of feathers, using trade networks that had been