Now, I am under the impression that when a person in a ballad wears a hat and feather it means they are part of a military group, but does it mean anything different if the wearer is a woman? The example I'm thinking of is from the song Queen Amangst the Heather by Andy Stewart:

"No shoes nor stockings did she wear Neither hat she kept nor had she feather"

Does anybody know what this means? Or is Andy Stewart on crack? ;-)

Thank you muchly.

Deborah