Gray Junglecock Spangles

Tradition has equipped certain birds with waxy feather appendages. The waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum and B. garrula) are so named because males reveal rachis extensions of secondary remiges, and sometimes rectrices, compared to red sealing wax. Hackle feathers of Gallus sonnerati cocks show apical blobs which have been compared to yellow beeswax. Although the descriptive practice has continued since the day of Darwin and Tegetmeier, it does not appear that such structures have been proved to consist in esters of higher alcohols. Nothing inherently bizarre attaches to a suggestion that Gallus manufactures wax. All animals and plants waterproof their exteriors with liquid or solid waxes. Indeed, the uropygial gland secretion is a wax representing palmitic, stearic, and oleic acid esters of octadecyl alcohol. The question arises, however, if sonnerati hackle spangles are waxen. Waxes soften and melt at 60° to 80°, and can be kneaded. Hackle spangles are firm, and do …