4
JACK COHEN
ample, the crown, neck, and cape feathers of chickens) there is a gradual
transition from one to the other, in m a n y instances there is a sharp line
FIG. 1. The major feather tracts on a chicken,
FIG. 2. Spatial and temporal variation in feathers. A. Feathers from three tracts
of a Brown Leghorn capon. Left: two breast feathers. Note the black vane barbulated to its edges, the white fluff, and the after-feather displaced to the right.
Center: two neck feathers. Note the black bands on either side of the rachis. The
rest of the vane is yellow, and about half the vane lacks barbules, so the barbs lie
free from one another. There is little fluff and no after-feather. Right: two saddle
feathers. Note the dark rust center of the vanes, the free barbs in a quite different
pattern from the neck feather, and the considerable fluff.
of demarcation and no intermediates are normally found. T h e cape and
saddle feathers of chickens differ in this way in most breeds; perhaps a
JACK COHEN
ample, the crown, neck, and cape feathers of chickens) there is a gradual
transition from one to the other, in m a n y instances there is a sharp line
FIG. 1. The major feather tracts on a chicken,
FIG. 2. Spatial and temporal variation in feathers. A. Feathers from three tracts
of a Brown Leghorn capon. Left: two breast feathers. Note the black vane barbulated to its edges, the white fluff, and the after-feather displaced to the right.
Center: two neck feathers. Note the black bands on either side of the rachis. The
rest of the vane is yellow, and about half the vane lacks barbules, so the barbs lie
free from one another. There is little fluff and no after-feather. Right: two saddle
feathers. Note the dark rust center of the vanes, the free barbs in a quite different
pattern from the neck feather, and the considerable fluff.
of demarcation and no intermediates are normally found. T h e cape and
saddle feathers of chickens differ in this way in most breeds; perhaps a