One summer night in June 2009, Edwin Rist broke into the Tring natural history museum and stole nearly 300 preserved birds worth some quarter of a million pounds. How he pulled off this crime, what motivated him, and how he was caught is one wild story. Join us for part one of this story as we lay the ground work and explain how some quirks of history lead to this crime. This story was brought to public attention by Kirk Wallace Johnson in his amazing book, The Feather Thief: https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-feather-thief-9780099510666 To support Bird of the Week and gain access to our second podcast, What's up with that's Bird's Name?, click on through to Patreon: www.patreon.com/birdoftheweek Would you like some bird art in your life? Then visit Seni Illustration for some bespoke bird art: https://www.seniillustrations.com/ Notes Birds: Spangled Cotinga: https://ebird.org/species/spacot1Red-ruffed Fruitcrow: https://ebird.org/species/rerfru1Resplendent Quetzal: https://ebird.org/species/resque1?siteLanguage=en_AUSuperb Bird-of-Paradise: https://ebird.org/species/vosbop1/King Bird-of-Paradise: https://ebird.org/species/kbopar1 Feather Trade: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plume_hunting Salmon flies: https://www.google.com/search?q=salmon+flies&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwiFm4GOi9z2AhWek9gFHSjVB_kQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=salmon+fl&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQARgBMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDoECAAQQzoGCAAQBxAeOggIABCABBCxA1CpBljZB2DuF2gAcAB4AIABtwGIAfcDkgEDMC4zmAEAoAEBqgELZ3dzLXdpei1pbWfAAQE&sclient=img&ei=wf46YsW2D56n4t4PqKqfyA8&bih=714&biw=1536&hl=en George Mortimer Kelson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Kelson Lionel Walter Rothschild: https://www.lindahall.org/lionel-walter-rothschild/  Tring Natural History Museum: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit/tring.html