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Journal of Experimental Biology 48,185-189 (1968)
Published by Company of Biologists 1968

The Water Repellency and Feather Structure of Cormorants, Phalacrocoracidae

A. M. RIJKE ¹

¹ Department of Chemistry, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, C.P., South Africa; Institute of Molecular Biophysics, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306

1. The water-repellency of the feathers of ducks is greatly increased by a structural feature which can be expressed in terms of diameter and spacing of the barbs and barbules.

2. This structural parameter is smaller for cormorant's feathers and causes a lesser extent of water repellency.

3. The resulting wetness of the feathers is the proximate cause of the cormorant's characteristic habit of wing-spreading.

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