"Support (Rav Shmuel Kaputka'ah): Birds have scales like fish (their creation from the mud is manifest in them, so presumably their law resembles that of fish)."
What does it mean that birds have scales like fish? It was my understanding that "scales" in terms of fish are only a specific kind (one that separates easily from the skin).
Ariel, California
I do not think that Rav Shmuel Kaputkah literally means that they have scales, but rather they have scale-like feet. It is "K'Dagim" -- "similar to fish," not the same as fish. As Tosfos points out, he is merely making an association by saying that it is a similar type of creation to fish and that therefore the Shechitah should be similar. He is not saying they are the same.
All the best,
Yaakov Montrose