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aigrette
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aigrette

decorative ornament
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Also known as: egret
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The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Article History
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egret
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aigrette, tuft of long, white heron (usually egret) plumes used as a decorative headdress, or any other ornament resembling such a headdress. Such plumes were highly prized as ornaments in Middle Eastern ceremonial dress. Jeweled aigrettes, at first made in the form of a tuft of plumes, became an adornment for turbans in Turkey, particularly during the Ottoman period (1281–1924).

Jeweled aigrettes were listed in royal collections at the end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th centuries. During the 18th century, they were popular with fashionable European women, who wore them pinned in their hair to hold masses of curls at the back of the head.

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feather
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Parts of a feather
Learn about the feathered dinosaurs of the Middle Jurassic Epoch
feather types feather cape The origins of birds. Hawaiian royal cloak made of netting into which feathers are knotted. basic body feather tracts on a generalized songbird Caudipteryx development of a down feather
Find out whether dinosaurs really had feathers
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Dromedary camels (Camelus dromedarius). Animals, mammals.
Ultimate Animals Quiz
pigeon. pigeon and dove. member of the order Columbiformes, family Columbidae
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Artwork of the Cretaceous dinosaur dineobellator, whose remains have been found in North America. This animal was around 2.5 to 3 metres in length, weighed up to 40 kg, and there is evidence that it had feathers.
How Do We Know That Dinosaurs May Have Had Feathers?
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Berlin, 1936 - Jesse Owens of the USA in action in the mens 200m at the Summer Olympic Games. Owens won a total of four gold medals.
Was Jesse Owens Snubbed by Adolf Hitler at the Berlin Olympics?
Parts of a feather
Parts of a feather The parts of a bird's feather: quill, rachis (shaft), barb, barbule, and hooks.

feather

zoology
Written and fact-checked by
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Article History

feather, the component structure of the outer covering and flight surfaces of all modern birds. Unique to birds, feathers apparently evolved from the scales of birds’ reptilian ancestors. The many different types of feathers are variously specialized for insulation, flight, formation of body contours, display, and sensory reception.

Learn about the feathered dinosaurs of the Middle Jurassic Epoch
1 of 2
Learn about the feathered dinosaurs of the Middle Jurassic EpochExcavating fossils of feathered dinosaurs from the Middle Jurassic Epoch.
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feather types
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feather typesFeather types and their distribution on a typical perching bird.

Unlike the hair of most mammals, feathers do not cover the entire skin surface of birds but are arranged in symmetrical tracts (pterylae) with areas of bare skin (apteria) between. The latter may contain the small soft feathers called down.

feather cape
feather capeAhulii (feather cape), red iiwi (Vestiaria coccinea; Hawaiian honeycreeper) and yellow oo (Acrulocercus nobilis) feathers, from the Hawaiian Islands, late 18th–early 19th century; in the Honolulu Academy of Arts.

The typical feather consists of a central shaft (rachis), with serial paired branches (barbs) forming a flattened, usually curved surface—the vane. The barbs possess further branches —the barbules—and the barbules of adjacent barbs are attached to one another by hooks, stiffening the vane. In many birds, some or all of the feathers lack the barbules or the hooks, and the plumage has a loose, hairlike appearance.

pigeon. pigeon and dove. member of the order Columbiformes, family Columbidae
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Ultimate Bird Trivia Quiz

Feathers have been used for ornamentation and as regalia in many societies, both nonliterate and highly developed. Hats and other accoutrements have featured or been constructed entirely of feathers and sometimes entire wings or pairs of wings down to modern times. Numerous governments have protected colourful species of birds to prevent their extinction at the hands of feather hunters. Feathers from domestic fowl slaughtered for meat are a standard by-product of poultry farmers and are used for decoration, padding, and insulation. See also plumage.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by John P. Rafferty.
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