PlumageThedierences inplumageofabluegrosbeak, fromtoptobottom, betweenabreedingmale(alternateplumage), anon-breeding male (basic plumage), a female, and the related indigobuntingThis article is about the layer of feathers that cover abird. For the campaign against the excessive use of birdsfeathers and plumage in ladies fashions, see PlumageLeague.Plumage (Latin: plma "feather") refers both to the layerof feathers that cover a bird and the pattern, colour, andarrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours ofplumage dier between species and subspecies, and mayvary with age classes, sexes, and season. Within speciesthere can be dierent colour morphs.Most birds moult, usually before and after breeding, re-sulting in a breeding ornuptial plumage and abasicplumage. Many ducks and some other species such asthe red junglefowl have males wearing a bright nuptialplumage while breeding and a drab eclipse plumage forsome months afterwards.Abnormal plumages include a varietyof conditions.Albinism,total loss of colour,is rare,but partial lossof colours is more common. Some species are colourpolymorphic, having two or more colour variants. A fewspecies have special types of polymorphism,as in themale ru which has an assortment of dierent coloursaround the head and neck in the breeding season only.Henfeatheringis aninheritedplumagecharacter indomestic fowl controlled by a single gene. Plumology (orplumage science) is the name for the science that is as-sociated with the study of feathers.[1][2][3]1 Humphrey-Parkes (H-P) moultand plumage terminologyAlmost all species of birds moult at least annually, usu-ally after the breeding season, known as thepre-basicmoult. This resulting covering of feathers, which will lasteither until the next breeding season or until the next an-nual moult, is known as the basic plumage. Many speciesundertake another moult prior to the breeding seasonknown as the pre-alternate moult, the resulting breed-ing plumage being known as the alternate plumage ornuptial plumage. The alternate plumage is often brighterthan the basic plumage, for the purposes of sexual dis-play, but may also be cryptic to hide incubating birds thatmight be vulnerable on the nest.[4]The Humphrey-Parkes terminology requires some atten-tion to detail to name moults and plumages correctly.[5]2 Eclipse plumageMandarin duck (male) in eclipse plumageMany ducks have bright, colourful plumage, exhibitingstrong sexual dimorphism. However, they moult into adull plumage after breeding in mid-summer. This drab,female-like appearance is called eclipse plumage. Whenthey shed feathers to go into eclipse, the ducks becomeightless for a short period of time. Some duck speciesremain in eclipse for one to three months in the late sum-mer and early fall, while others would retain the crypticplumage until the next spring when they undergo anothermoult to return to their breeding plumage.AlthoughmainlyfoundintheAnatidae, afewother12 3 ABNORMAL PLUMAGESspecies, including related red junglefowl, mostfairywrens[a]andsomesunbirdsalsohaveaneclipseplumage. In the superb and splendid fairywrens, veryold males (over about four years) may moult from onenuptial plumage to another[6] whereas in the red-backedand white-winged fairywrens, males do not acquirenuptial plumage until four years of age[7] well afterthey become sexually mature and indeed longer than thevast majority of individuals live.[8]In contrast to the ducks, males of hummingbirds and mostlek-mating passerines like the Guianan cock-of-the-rock or birds of paradise retain their exuberant plumageand sexual dimorphism at all times, moulting as ordinarybirds do once annually.3 Abnormal plumagesAxanthic budgerigarThere are hereditary as well as non-hereditary variationsin plumage that are rare and termed as abnormal or aber-rant plumages. Melanism refers to an excess of black ordark colours. Erythromelanism or erythrism is the resultof excessive reddish brown erythromelanin deposition infeathers that normally lack melanin. Melanin of dier-ent forms combine with xanthophylls to produce colourmixtures and when this combination is imbalanced it pro-duces colour shifts that are termed as schizochroisms (in-cluding xanthochromism overabundance of yellow and axanthism lack of yellow which are commonlybred in cagebirds such as budgerigars). A reduction ineumelanin leads to non-eumelanin schizochroism with anoverall fawn plumage while a lack of phaeomelanin re-sults in grey coloured non-phaeomelanin schizochroism.Carotenism refers to abnormal distribution of carotenoidpigments.The termdilution is used for situations where the colouris of a lower intensity overall; it is caused by decreaseddeposition of pigment in the developing feather, and canAn albino African penguin.thus not occur in structural coloration (i.e., dilute bluedoes not exist); pale structural colors are instead achievedby shifting the peak wavelength at which light is refracted.Dilution regularly occurs in normal plumage (grey, bu,pink and cream colours are usually produced by this pro-cess), but may in addition occur as an aberration (e.g., allnormally black plumage becoming grey).[9]In some birds many true owls (Strigidae), somenightjars (Caprimulgidae) and a few cuckoos (Cuculusand relatives) being widely known examples there iscolour polymorphism. This means thattwo or morecolour variants are numerous within their populationsduringall orat least most seasonsandplumages; inthe above-mentioned examples a brown (phaeomelanin)and grey (eumelanin) morph exist, termed hepaticform particularly inthe cuckoos. Other cases ofnatural polymorphism are of various kinds; many aremelanic/nonmelanic (some paradise-ycatchers, Terpsi-phone,for example),but more unusual types of poly-morphism exist the face colour of the Gouldian nch(Erythrura gouldiae) or the courtship types of male Rus(Philomachus pugnax).3.1 AlbinismAlbinism in birds is rare, occurring to any extent in per-haps one in 1800 individuals. It involves loss of colour inall parts including the iris of the eyes, bills, skin, legs,and feet. It is usually the result of a genetic mutationcausing the absence of tyrosinase, an enzyme essential formelanin synthesis. Leucism (which includes what used to3.2 Hen feathering in cocks 3be termed as partial albinism) refers to loss of pigmentsin some or all parts of feathers. Abird that is albino (fromthe Latin albus, white) has white feathers in place ofcoloured ones on some portion of its body. A bird that isnaturally white, such as a swan, goose, or egret, is not analbino, nor is a bird that has seasonally alternating whiteplumage.[10]Four degrees of albinism have been described. The mostcommon form is termed partial albinism, in which localareas of the birds body, such as certain feathers, are lack-ing the pigment melanin. The white areas may be sym-metrical, with both sides of the bird showing a similarpattern. Inimperfect albinism, the pigment is partiallyinhibited in the skin, eyes, or feathers, but is not absentfrom any of them. Incomplete albinism is the completeabsence of pigment from the skin, eyes, or feathers, butnot all three.[10]A young completely albino crow in Malacca, Malaysia.Acompletely albino bird is the most rare. The eyes in thiscase are pink or red, because blood shows through in theabsence of pigment in the irises. The beak, legs, and feetare very pale or white. Albino adults are rare in the wildbecause their eyesight is poor resulting in greater risk ofpredation.[11] They are likely easier targets for predatorsbecause their colour distinguishes them from their envi-ronment. Falconers have observed that their trained birdsare likely to attack a white pigeon in a ock because it isconspicuous. A complete albino often has weak eyesightand brittle wing and tail feathers, which may reduce itsability to y. In ocks, albinos are often harassed by theirown species.Such observations have been made amongred-winged blackbirds, barn swallows, and African pen-guins. In a nesting colony of the latter, three unusualjuvenilesone black-headed, one white-headed, and onefull albinowere shunned and abused by companions.[10]Albinismhas beenreportedinall orders andin54families of North American birds. The American robinand house sparrow led bird species in the incidence ofalbinism. Albinistic white appears to replace brown pig-ments more often than red or yellow ones; records sug-gest a greater incidence in crows, ravens, and hawks thanin goldnches or orioles.[10]Several kinds of albinism in chickens has been described:A complete albinism controlled by an autosomal reces-sive gene[12] and two dierent kinds of partial albinism.One of the partialalbinisms is sex-linked[13]and theother is autosomal recessive.[14] Afourth kind of albinismseverely reduce pigmentation in the eyes, but only dilutesthe pigment in the plumage.[15]Abnormally white feathers are not always due to albinism.Injury or disease may change their color, including di-etary deciencies or circulatory problems during featherdevelopment. Agingmayalsoturnabirdsfeatherswhite.[10]3.2 Hen feathering in cocksMain article: Hen feathering in cocksHen feathering in cocks is a genetically conditioned char-acter in domestic fowl (Gallus gallus domesticus). Maleswith this condition develop a female-type plumage, al-though otherwise look and response as virile males. Insome breeds, one can see males that have a plumage com-pletely similar in all aspects to that of females. The trait iscontrolled by a simple autosomic dominant gene, whoseexpression is limited to the male sex.[16][17][18] The con-dition is due to an enhanced activity of the aromatasecomplex of enzymes responsible for estrogen synthesis.So estrogen formation in the skin is as much as severalhundred-fold higher than that of normal chickens.[19]4 Pigmentation conditionsAlbinism, the lack of melanin pigmentationLeucism, a condition similar to albinism in animals,characterized by reduced pigmentation in generalMelanism (or melanosis),unusually dark melaninpigmentationXanthochromism, unusually yellow pigmentationIno budgerigar mutation, the occurrence of this mu-tation in captive-bred Budgerigars5 See alsoAnimal colorationPlume huntingHen feathering in cocks4 7 REFERENCESSea penPluma porgy6 NotesaMales of the White-shouldered and Emperor fairywrensof New Guinea do not enter an eclipse plumage.7 References[1] Galapagos plumology. darwinfoundation.org. CharlesDarwinCollections Database bythe Charles DarwinFoundation. Retrieved 24 April 2015.[2] Eichhorn, hrsg. von Manfred (2005). LangenscheidtFachwrterbuchBiologieEnglisch: englisch- deutsch,deutsch - englisch (1. Au. ed.). Berlin [u.a.]:Langen-scheidt. p. 537. ISBN 3861172283. Retrieved 24 April2015.[3] Li, Quanguo (9 March 2012), Reconstruction of Micro-raptor and the Evolution of Iridescent Plumage, Science335: 12151219, doi:10.1126/science.1213780, PMID22403389[4] Humphrey, P.S. and K.C. Parkes (1959). An approachto the study of molts and plumages (PDF). Auk 76: 131.doi:10.2307/4081839.[5] Sievert Rohwer, Christopher W. Thompson and Bruce E.Young (1991). Clarifying the Humphrey-Parkes Moltand Plumage Terminology (PDF). Condor 94 (1): 297300. doi:10.2307/1368824.[6] Rowley, Ian and Russell, Eleanor; Fairy-Wrens and Grass-wrens; pp. 145, 149 ISBN 0198546904[7] Rowley and Russell; Fairy-WrensandGrasswrens,pp.176-177, 181[8] See Australian Bird and Bat Banding Studies[9] Buckley, P.A. 1982. Avian Genetics. In: Petrak, M. (ed.).Diseases of cage and aviary birds, 2nd ed. pp. 21110.Lea and Febiger, Philadelphia.[10] Albinism. Terres, John. K. The Audubon Society Ency-clopedia of North American Birds, New York: Alfred A.Knopf, 1980. ISBN 0-394-46651-9.[11] Grouw, Hein van (2006). Not every white bird is analbino: sense and nonsense about colour aberrations inbirds (PDF). Dutch Birding 28: 7989.[12] Warren, D.C. 1933 Inheritance of albinism in the domes-tic fowl. Journal of Heredity 24:379-383.[13] ^ Mueller, C.D. and Hutt, F.B. 1941 Genetics of the fowl.12. Sex-linked imperfect albinism, Journal of Heredity.32, 71-80.[14] Brumbaugh, J.A., Bargar, T.W. and Oetting, W.S. 1983A new allele at the C pigment locus in the fowl. Journalof Heredity. 74, 331-336.[15] Warren, D.C. 1940 Inheritance of pinkeye in the fowl.Journal of Heredity 31:291-292.[16] Morgan, T. H(1920). Thegeneticfactor for hen-feathering in the Sebright Bantam (PDF). Biol. Bull 39(4): 257259. doi:10.2307/1536491.[17] George F.W., Matsumine H., McPhaul, M.J., Somes,R.G. Jr., Wilson, J.D. (1990).Inheritance of the hennyfeathering trait in the golden Campine chicken: evidencefor allelism with the gene that causes henny feathering inthe Sebright bantam. J Hered 81 (2): 107110. PMID2338489.[18] Somes, R.G. Jr., George, F.W., Baron, J., Noble, J.F.,Wilson, J.D. (1984). Inheritance of the henny-featheringtrait of the Sebright bantam chicken. J. Hered75 (2):99102. PMID 6715868.[19] Leshin, M., Baron, J., George, F.W. and Wilson, J.D(1981). Increased estrogen formation and aromatase ac-tivity in broblasts cultured fromthe skin of chickens withthe Henny feathering trait (PDF). J. Biol Chem. 256 (9):43414. PMID 7217085.58 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses8.1 Text Plumage Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plumage?oldid=659110384 Contributors: Shyamal, Menchi, Manuel Anastcio, Mwng,Ranveig, Sabines Sunbird, Miss Madeline, BD2412, Rjwilmsi, Dysmorodrepanis~enwiki, DVD R W, Sardanaphalus, SmackBot, Cool3,Bazonka, Kevinpurcell, Like tears in rain, Luokehao, TastyPoutine, Runningonbrains, Palmiped, Nick Number, AntiVandalBot, DOS-Guy, Natureguy1980, Maias, VoABot II, Juliebeanpie, Chiswick Chap, KylieTastic, Anjingbuduk, MeegsC, Rabo3, Nicols10~enwiki,SchreiberBike, Grantus4504, Rickremember, Addbot, Tide rolls, Yobot, AnomieBOT, Flewis, Materialscientist, Haeinous, RjwilmsiBot, , ClueBot NG, Faizanalivarya, Candleabracadabra, Wimvdam, Ornithodiez, Dark Silver Crow, Cacucho, TKYung, YiFeiBot,Miraclexix, G.weston1 and Anonymous: 338.2 Images File:Albino_crow_and_its_mother.JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Albino_crow_and_its_mother.JPGLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0Contributors: Own work by uploader, http://bjornfree.com/galleries.html Original artist: BjrnChristian Trrissen File:Blue_male_budgie.jpgSource: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Blue_male_budgie.jpgLicense: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Amos T Fairchild File:Guiraca_caeruleaAAP086CB.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Guiraca_caeruleaAAP086CB.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Birds of New York (New York State Museum.Memoir 12), Albany: University of the State ofNew York.Plates by Fuertes later reproduced in Birds of America (1917) by Thomas Gilbert Pearson (1873-1943) et al. 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