During last week's brief thread on whether it is wise/legal to pick up
dead birds for donation to museums, I cautioned that the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service *could* make a "salvager" sorry to have protected birds or
their parts in his or her possession. I alluded to the case of Nathaniel
Wheelwright and promised to post references. Here they are:

Frank Graham, Jr. "The Ordeal of Nat Wheelwright" _American Birds_
46(3):374-377, Fall 1992.
Wheelwright's case involved 3 Savannah Sparrows, 3 Tree Swallows, and a
Leach's Storm-Petrel. It also involved an international border.

See also the Editorial and Commentary by Glenn Walsberg, and the Letter to
the Editor from Russell Balda, both in _Condor_ 95(3):758-760, from August 1993.

Before rushing off to find these articles, you should know they deal
with interactions between the Fish and Wildlife Service and ornithologists.
They don't address typical Pacific Northwest residents with juncos (or
rails!) crashing into plate-glass windows or Saw-whet Owls being killed by
cars. But they provide a picture of what might happen if you're caught, by
the right person at the right time, with the carcass of a bird protected
under Federal law.
Since the time of the articles, the ornithological community and the
USFWS have been working together to prevent similar unpleasantries from
demeaning other conscientious biologists.

------------------------
Scott Richardson
NE Seattle
salix at isomedia.com