Dinosaur Feathers (was RE: Bambiraptor complete!)

[Alan Kellogg <mythusmage@cts.com>]

After following the discussion for a bit a question arose. Among 
those species that bore plumage, what sort of plumage did they have? 
Did dinosaurian plumage resemble avian? To what degree? What sort of 
display plumage did they have, and when?

I am not conversant on the number of specimens found with feathers. 
Or the sort of feathers they were found with. I do know that the 
number of specimens found is small. Due to the conditions under which 
specimens are preserved, we can have, at best, but fragmentary 
evidence of the existence of feathered dinosaurs. The same conditions 
restrict our knowledge of what the animals looked like over the 
course of a year. Some of the specimens we have found could have been 
bearing display plumage at the time of their death, and not the 
feathers they wore during the rest of the year.

A good working time machine would be so useful.

Discuss among yourselves.

Alan