XI.—On the Development of the Feathers of the Duck during the Incubation Period

Abstract

Much study has already been devoted to the plumage of birds and its development, and the extensive literature to which this study has given rise might at first sight make it appear that no room is left for any new contributions to a subject which has already attracted so many investigators. The special branches of the subject, however, which have attracted most attention, have been:—(1) The histology of developing feathers, to which Studer, Davies, Wohlauer, and Bornstein have contributed; (2) pigmentation, investigated by STRONG; and (3) more recently what may be called the continuity between early “down” and adult feathers, a condition which does not appear to have been clearly realised before Jones and Gadow published the results of their researches. Recently also Waterston and Geddes, working on the embryology and anatomy of the Penguin, have touched incidentally on the appearance of down-papillæ and down at successive embryonic stages in the Penguin and the Duck; but, covering a wider field of research, they have not devoted to feather development in particular that careful observation and detailed study which the interest of the subject and the deficiencies of our knowledge appear to warrant.

The morphology of neoptile feathers: Ancestral state reconstruction and its phylogenetic implications

“…Feathers usually have pith within the rhachis and the barbs filled with so‐called medullary cells (Lucas and Stettenheim, 1972). Such cells are also present within the rhachis and the barbs of neoptile body feathers of A. anser , A. australis , E. elegans , T. tadorna as well as A. platyrhynchos (Lamont, 1922), P. perdix (Schaub, 1912). In S. camelus such cells are only present in the distal ends of the prolonged anterior barbs (Fig.…”

“…The material derives primarily from the Zoological Collection of the University of Rostock (ZSRO), the Zoological Museum of the University of Hamburg (ZMH) and the Senckenberg Museum, Frankfurt (SMF), Germany. The results were complemented by data (explicit descriptions or images of neoptile feathers) from the literature for the species Opisthocomus hoazin (Pycraft, 1895), Bubo bubo , Ciconia ciconia , Falco tinnunculus, Hirundo rustica , Hypothymis puella , Nycticorax sp., Oriolus oriolus , Pelecanus crispus , Platalea leucorodia , Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax , Streptopelia sp., Threskiornis spinicollis , Turdus merula (Schaub, 1912), Perdix perdix (Schaub, 1912; Becker, 1959), Dromaius novaehollandiae , Pygoscelis adeliae (Ewart, 1921), A. platyrhynchos (Ewart, 1921; Lamont, 1922; Becker 1959), Megapodius freycinet (Becker, 1959), Coturnix coturnix , Crax sp., Meleagris gallopavo , Meleagris ocellata , Leipoa ocellata (Clark, 1964), and Taeniopygia guttata (Alibardi, 2006b; Table 2).…”

NORMALSTADIEN DER EMBRYONAL‐ENTWICKLUNG BEI DER HAUSENTE (ANAS BOSCH AS DOMESTIC A)*

“…Am einfachsten sind noch die W a c h s t u m s v o r g a n g e zu erfassen, weil sie einer messbaren Beurteilung zuganglich sind. Den Ansatz zu einer Auswertung von W a c h s t u m s -und D i f f e r e n z i e r u n g s v o r g a n g e n in Kombination bietet die Untersuchung von H. HAARDICK (1941) LAMONT, 1922; A. HOLMES, 1935; A.…”