The issue is well-illustrated in 2.8 Space Around Initial Letters from the spec.
It’s reproducible in the demo on Chrome 39 and Safari 8.0.2 with the letter “J” when you choose Baskerville, Garamond, or Palatino as the drop cap font family. For the letter “Q”, on the other hand, the exclusion area includes all of the descender in Palatino (plus extra), almost all of it in Garamond, and part, but not all of it, in Baskerville. See:
Baskerville


Garamond


Palatino

