On Mon, 24 May 2010, David Marjanovic wrote:
When foxes and dogs try to catch chickens they get a mouth (or paw) full of feathers. So, the feathers make for a fluffy target and aid in the feathered one's escape. I could see that might be an aid smaller birds but possibly not larger ones.Also, it requires long and densely arranged feathers from the start; that's perhaps not plausible.
Not necessarily long but dense. I'm thinking like loose furry skin on dogs.