A flute player breaks into a British museum and makes off with a million dollars worth of dead birds.
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An “analytical diagram” illustrating the various parts of a Jock Scott salmon fly.
George M. Kelson’s The Salmon Fly: How to Dress It and How to Use It (1895)
Victorian Salmon Flies and the Birds Used to Make Them
Note: The internet version of this episode contains un-beeped curse words. BEEPED VERSION.
Prologue
After hearing about the heist, Kirk Wallace Johnson gets sucked into the feather underground. He ends up discovering things that the people in charge of the theft investigation didn’t. Kirk’s book about the heist is called “The Feather Thief." (7 minutes)
The Specimens
The birds Edwin Rist stole were valuable and collected in the mid-1800s by one of the greatest scientific explorers of his time: a man named Alfred Russel Wallace. (6 minutes)
The Museum
Edwin visits a branch of Britain's Natural History Museum in a little town called Tring. (3 1/2 minutes)
The Investigation
The police track Edwin down after a fly-tier turns in a tip. (6 1/2 minutes)
The Suspect
Kirk wonders if Edwin has a sidekick who helped him the night of the Tring heist. (5 minutes)
Oslo
In Norway, Kirk tracks down fugitive feathers. (16 minutes)
Related
Act One: The Youth In Asia
Act Three: A Real Nail Biter
Act Two: We At The Hotel, Motel, Very Locked In
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