Fur Investigation Science Species 
10,000 Birds
MAY 11, 2012
The species was extinct, a vanished part of the vanishing prairie — and not for the first time. Somewhere around the Platte River one of the Audubon boys received a black-footed hide from a fur trader. You couldn’t see it. John Bachmann headed west to gather material for Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America.
10,000 Birds
JULY 3, 2018
He roots the theft in the history of collecting bird skins, in the brief life history of Edwin Rist, in the secretive world of classic fly tying, and in his own efforts to follow up on a police investigation that got the man but not all of the loot. In some cases, he took all adult males of the species or subspecies held by the museum.
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