Lipids of the uropygial gland of birds

1. Uropygial gland lipids of fourteen species of birds were analyzed with thin layer chromatography. In most of the analyzed species the main lipid fractions were aliphatic waxes. 2. In three of the analyzed species belonging to Galliformes another type of “waxes” was present. These waxes were shown to consist of esters of dihydric alcohols with fatty acids. 3. Removal of the uropygial gland from chicks was observed to cause a statistically significant increase in growth when commercial chick-food was fed ad libitum to the operated and sham-operated chickens.