Dennis wrote:

>Although of course it's technically illegal to possess them, such feathers
>are actually not that difficult to find if you look for them along the high
>tide line at ocean beaches during the summer and especially the fall, when
>most birds are molting their flight feathers.


Illegal? To possess a feather? Help me understand this please. I have
always suspected that the feathers I smuggled into the country from my
travels in Australia were contraband, but what gives on "found"
feathers? Maybe you'd better outline the technical illegalities for me
so I can be sure to have full information the next time I pluck a feather
from the underbrush or (Egad!) from an interesting road kill. Am I
endangering myself or treading too close to the line of legality?

And what about "bird mites", those threats to public health so fervently
guarded against by one of Barbara Kingsolver's characters (in 'Animal
Dreams", I think) - warning his children not to play with feathers or
other bird parts for fear of infection. Any risk to the average feather
gatherer from the parasites that must exist on birds, as surely as they
do on lobster lips? Oh the wonderful array of dangers we encounter in
the outside world!

Happy 1996 to you all!



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Becca Knox rknox at scn.org Seattle, Washington
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