In t,
Kevin Brooks radiated into the WorldWideWait:
"Andrew Chaplin" wrote in message
...

snip

Hawks are great flyers but not too bright (where have we heard that
description before?). We had a Swainson's hawk fly in front of our
troop position just as we opened in Fire for Effect. The unit
medical WO, our local hunter and wildlife nut, had it stuffed and
mounted, and it was on the wall of the Medical Inspection Room
until he retired.

Probably lucky he does not reside south of our mutual border. A lot
of the birds of prey are protected here. And, as is apt to happen
when lawyers and bureaucrats get together, the intent of the
protective laws has been twisted beyond reason. Find an owl from
the list that has been killed by a car and want to preserve it? You
may find yourself facing federal charges. Maybe you are a fly
fisherman who likes to tie his own flies and you collect a few
feathers from the carcass of a hawk or owl? Ditto. You actually
need a *permit* to hold feathers lost by the bird you may have
picked up in the woods (there was a court case involving just that
here in Virginia--in the end the defendent was able to show he was
"descended from the Iroquois" (and thus his possession was covered
by a claim of religious freedom) and won at the federal appelate
level. Ridiculous that he had to go to that level, much less that
he had to resort to his ethnic ancestry...

Don't forget the imbecility that only "certified" Indigenous American
Aborigines may legally have eagle feathers in their possession.