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A few months ago, I read The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson, and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head since. The Feather Thief tells the story of the world’s largest ornithological heist, when a young American musician broke into the Natural History Museum at Tring in the U.K. and stole nearly 300 bird skins, which were valued at over £1 million.
Why would anyone want to steal dead birds?
In this episode of the Patron Podcast, we explore the heist and the fascinating history leading up to it: from the work of Victorian naturalists and conservationists, to the complicated history of women’s fashion and the obsessive world of salmon fly-tying.
Our theme song is “Arabesque No. 1” by Claude Debussy (public domain).
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