Beauty is only partly in the eye of the beholder

Abstract

The splendid colours and complex patterns of the plumage, eggs, and beaks, feet and other bare parts of birds have captivated humans for millenia and scientists for more than 150 years. In particular, birds have provided a rich basis for mechanistic studies of feather structure and plumage development, predominant through much of the 20th century, and for evolutionary studies of functional aspects of the plumage, which began with Darwin and Wallace but followed by a hiatus until the latter half of the 20th century.