The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson *****

Why would a talented flutist break into a British natural history museum to steal dead birds? The Feather Thief is the thrilling investigation of a journalist who wants to know why 20-years-old Edwin Rist would decide to penetrate the Tring Museum on a warm night of June 2009 and proceed to steal almost 300 rare bird specimens. An irreplaceable scientific loss.

This peculiar case brings author Wallace Johnson into the little-known community of the fly-fishing tyers – a group of enthusiasts who create intricate fishing flies using a technique from the Victorian era. Unfortunately, their craft demands feathers from tropical birds. The most fervent fly-fishing tyers would do anything to get their hands on a few iridescent feathers of macaws, resplendent quetzals, pheasants, peacocks or birds of paradise.

But most of these birds belong to rare species decimated during the Victorian era for their beautiful feathers and are now protected. With legal sources dwindling, some fly tyers have resorted to an underground trade of dead birds, poached in their native countries or stolen from museums across the world. And that is how human greed fuels the killing of the most beautiful birds in the world as well as the disappearance of countless specimens of great value for science.

This book is unique – a blend of investigative journalism, natural history, and bird conservation. And we absolutely loved it. Before reading this book, we had no idea that Victorian fashion had fueled the decimation of so many bird species, and we were dumbfounded to find out that even today, rare birds, both alive and dead, are victims of trade for their feathers!

Fly-tying was an unknown world to us – a niche craft that stirs fierce passion within its community. We cannot fathom that even in natural history museums, specimens that are so important to science are not safe. Wallace discovered that even birds collected by the infamous naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace in the 19^th century have disappeared from their cases in the latest years!

The most infuriating part? These tied flies, made with rare feathers, are never used to fish – they are mere ornaments. There even exist very good alternatives for these rare feathers, made of dyed chicken feathers. As biologists and bird-lovers, this book sometimes left us feel heartbroken and frustrated, but it was a great read nonetheless.

The Feather Thief is a must-read for bird-lovers, conservationists and anyone fascinated by true crime.  It will leave you questioning the lengths to which people will go for obsession – and the cost of human greed on nature.

If you want to know more about what these flies look like (although there are pictures in the book itself), you can read about classic salmon flies in this article, where the passion of the author is more than palpable. Let’s hope he does not use real feathers for his own pieces! https://www.thefield.co.uk/fishing/classic-salmon-fly-the-art-and-the-history-27937

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