feather (redirected from flight feather)

feather

1. skin appendages of all birds. Comprise a central shaft with a flat vane on either side. The shaft consists of the calamus, embedded in the feather follicle, and the rachis which is outside the follicle. The calamus has an opening at each end, the superior and inferior umbilicus. The inferior umbilicus contains the dermal papilla which produces the pulp which continues up the interior of the calamus to end at and pass out through the superior umbilicus. Each feather has two parts, the mainfeather and a small afterfeather which is attached at the superior umbilicus. Barbs and barbules form the bulk of the vane.

Contour feathers are large feathers that give the bird its shape. Down feathers are very small feathers. Semiplume feathers are intermediate in size between contour and down. Filoplume feathers are hairlike and remain after other feathers are plucked. They have only one small tuft of barbs. Specialized additional feathers include auricular feathers, around the ear lobes, oil gland feathers, at the oil gland on the tail, bristle feathers on the eyelids and powder feathers in aquatic birds. Remiges are the large flight feathers of the wing and rectrices the very long contour feathers coming from the side of the tail. These are the longest feathers of all in the domestic fowl.

The feather coat consists of feather tracts (see below) or pterylae that are well defined and carry contour feathers and semiplumes. They are separated by unfeathered tracts called apteria. The distribution of special feathers of particular colors in particular pterylae is what gives the breeds their distinctive appearance. The feather coat is divided up into regions that include hackle, cape, cushion, saddle, wing bars, wing fronts and wing bows.

2. long hairs on the fetlocks of draft breeds of horses and in dogs, on the ventral body, caudal aspect of the legs, and ventral tail of spaniels and setters.

3. hair-streams that produce feather-like marks, in the haircoat of an animal.

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feather clipping

clipping the flight feathers with tin shears will prevent flight for several months.

feather coat

the total feather covering of a bird. Called also ptilosis.

contour feather

the externally visible feathers which determine the bird's silhouette and the contours of the wings, body and tail.

feather cushion

the plumage from the pelvic tract of the hen, forming the back cover.

feather cysts

contain unerupted feathers and keratinous debris that may form large cutaneous lumps.

feather disease

an idiopathic disease of all varieties of cockatoos, lovebirds and budgerigars as young birds and characterized by a chronic, progressive, symmetrical loss of feathers, elongation of toenails and upper beak, which later becomes necrotic and sloughs off. Called also psittacine beak and feather syndrome.

filoplume feather

hairlike feathers, commonest on neck, head.

flight feather

the strong feathers on the wings and tail of birds used in flight. Called also remiges (plural), remex (singular).

feather follicle

a small tubular invagination of the skin with a fleshy dermal papilla at the bottom from which the feather grows. The papilla is inserted in the opening at the end of the quill.

feather mites

mites that live on and in feathers, often in enormous numbers but have little pathogenicity. Include the genera of Analges and Megninia of the family Analgesidae and the genus Dermoglyphus of the family Dermoglyphidae. Other miscellaneous genera are Syringophilus, Falculifer, Freyana, Pterolichus, Pteronyssus.

feather muscles

similar to erector pili muscles of mammals; attached to the sides of the follicle; capable of elevating or lowering entire groups of feathers.

feather picking

a vice thought to be due to insecurity and manifested by the bird pecking off its own feathers. If blood is drawn cannibalism may develop.

primary feather

flight feathers on the wings of birds.

psittacine beak and feather disease

see psittacine beak and feather disease.

feather pulling

see feather picking (above).

feather pulp

remnants of vascular tissue contained in the core of each feather.

saddle feather

the plumage covering the back of male birds.

feather syndrome

see psittacine beak and feather disease.

feather tract

area of the skin of a bird in which feathers grow. They are well defined and separated by unfeathered areas called apteria.