--- /dev/null
+## Copyright (C) 2007-2012 David Bateman
+##
+## This file is part of Octave.
+##
+## Octave is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+## under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+## the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at
+## your option) any later version.
+##
+## Octave is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+## WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+## MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
+## General Public License for more details.
+##
+## You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+## along with Octave; see the file COPYING. If not, see
+## <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+## -*- texinfo -*-
+## @deftypefn {Function File} {} feather (@var{u}, @var{v})
+## @deftypefnx {Function File} {} feather (@var{z})
+## @deftypefnx {Function File} {} feather (@dots{}, @var{style})
+## @deftypefnx {Function File} {} feather (@var{h}, @dots{})
+## @deftypefnx {Function File} {@var{h} =} feather (@dots{})
+##
+## Plot the @code{(@var{u}, @var{v})} components of a vector field emanating
+## from equidistant points on the x-axis. If a single complex argument
+## @var{z} is given, then @code{@var{u} = real (@var{z})} and
+## @code{@var{v} = imag (@var{z})}.
+##
+## The style to use for the plot can be defined with a line style @var{style}
+## in a similar manner to the line styles used with the @code{plot} command.
+##
+## The optional return value @var{h} is a vector of graphics handles to the
+## line objects representing the drawn vectors.
+##
+## @example
+## @group
+## phi = [0 : 15 : 360] * pi/180;
+## feather (sin (phi), cos (phi));
+## @end group
+## @end example
+##
+## @seealso{plot, quiver, compass}
+## @end deftypefn
+
+function retval = feather (varargin)
+
+ [h, varargin, nargin] = __plt_get_axis_arg__ ("feather", varargin{:});
+
+ arrowsize = 0.25;
+
+ if (nargin == 0)
+ print_usage ();
+ elseif (nargin == 1 || (nargin == 2 && ! isnumeric (varargin{2})))
+ ioff = 2;
+ z = varargin{1}(:).';
+ u = real (z);
+ v = imag (z);
+ elseif (nargin > 1 && isnumeric (varargin{2}))
+ ioff = 3;
+ u = varargin{1}(:).';
+ v = varargin{2}(:).';
+ endif
+
+ line_spec = "b-";
+ have_line_spec = false;
+ while (ioff <= nargin)
+ arg = varargin{ioff++};
+ if ((ischar (arg) || iscell (arg)) && ! have_line_spec)
+ [linespec, valid] = __pltopt__ ("feather", arg, false);
+ if (valid)
+ line_spec = arg;
+ have_line_spec = false;
+ break;
+ else
+ error ("feather: invalid linespec");
+ endif
+ else
+ error ("feather: unrecognized argument");
+ endif
+ endwhile
+
+ ## Matlab draws feather plots, with the arrow head as one continous
+ ## line, and each arrow separately. This is completely different than
+ ## quiver and quite ugly.
+ n = length (u);
+ xend = [1 : n] + u;
+ xtmp = [1 : n] + u .* (1 - arrowsize);
+ yend = v;
+ ytmp = v .* (1 - arrowsize);
+ x = [[1 : n]; xend; xtmp - v * arrowsize; xend; ...
+ xtmp + v * arrowsize];
+ y = [zeros(1, n); yend; ytmp + u * arrowsize / 3; yend; ...
+ ytmp - u * arrowsize / 3];
+
+ oldh = gca ();
+ unwind_protect
+ axes (h);
+ newplot ();
+ hlist = plot (h, x, y, line_spec, [1, n], [0, 0], line_spec);
+ unwind_protect_cleanup
+ axes (oldh);
+ end_unwind_protect
+
+ if (nargout > 0)
+ retval = hlist;
+ endif
+
+endfunction
+
+
+%!demo
+%! clf
+%! phi = [0 : 15 : 360] * pi / 180;
+%! feather (sin (phi), cos (phi))
+