I am looking for the name of the small downy feather that you find on the underside of some regular feathers like marabou.
I have looked in some books, but there is no mention of it.
Thanks for your help!
chris
Philoplume? Just a guess. The other option is chickabou associated with hen saddles.
Kelly.
George
<have heard of them referred to as “after shaft” … but I like “George” better>
George works for me too, but considering the comparitively small size of the feather, could we call it “Little George?” 8T 
Aftershaft is the usual term, but George has a nice ring to it. Considering the many uses of this fine bit of plummage adding “Little” to the dignified name of George might be considered disparaging by some (though I am not one of them). I think George is a good fit. All in favor of George, say “Aye”.
REE
When I see this feather at the base of a pheasant body feather, I call it “gimp”.
There is a nice little wet fly tied with this feather called " The Gimp Fly".
Thanks for the info guys!
As far as george goes, I personally like the name Guido.
Take care,
chris
I didn’t know feathers had names. 
But George sounds good to me, too.
How about Boy George for the small ones? :lol:
And whatever you do don’t go buy “George” feathers… they are on every single body feather of the bird and are thrown away by 99% of the tyers.
Those George feathers make great hackle on really small wet flies, and when wound around the hook shank make great bodies on larger wets. I’ve heard, but never tried it, that you can make a pretty good trout pellet fly using George feathers.
George and a bunch of his brothers George make an outstanding lake leech…
I think that Boy George only comes off Chickabou…
Ed
Some of the longer George’s make a pretty good body for a woolly bugger. Just be sure to reinforce it with a rib of some kind. They’re fairly fragile.
(If I start calling too many things “George”, I rename a few of them “Fred” to help cut down on the confusion.)
Kirk