OLD EGGS CAN'T BE SOLD IN ENGLAND

Did you know that very old birds' eggs cannot be legally sold in England because of that country's 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act? Similar laws in the United States protect body parts of migratory birds and endangered species. An auctioneer in England was fined for trying to sell some wild birds' eggs about 100 years old. Years ago we reported a problem for an American college selling "bird skins," just the outside feathered skins that were kept for study purposes. That case was solved by giving, not selling, the skins to another museum.

PORCELAIN BIRDCAGE

Porcelain Birdcage

Q: I have had this object for a few years and would love to know what it is.

A: It looks like a porcelain birdcage. We've seen similar cages, some with bars over the larger holes and some with porcelain birds inside. Your cage was probably made as a decorative object and may not be very old. Can anyone tell us if we are right? The Egyptians kept pet birds over 4,000 years ago. In medieval Europe, birds were kept by the wealthy. Canaries were used to detect carbon monoxide in mines beginning in the 1800s and special cages were made to carry the birds into the mines. Electronic detectors replaced the canaries in the mines in the twentieth century, but in 1995 Japan used canaries to detect poison gas in the subways after a terrorist attack.