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On Meinertzhagen’s fraud

The globe-trotting soldier, spy and aggressive bird collector, was discovered to have stolen specimens from the British Museum, retagging them as his own, and thus misrepresenting their location and migratory habits. The consequences were disastrous for biologists who rely on such species for study.
 
Rasmussen came across the fraud while researching the book. She became familiar with the style of preserving bird specimens, and noticed when Meinertzhagen’s didn’t add up. While suspicions had been raised by others, it was she and Robert Prys-Jones, head of the collection at Tring, who began investigating.

“This is fortunately very rare, but it’s very disconcerting to scientists,” she said. ”Partly, I think he was making a name for himself. He wanted his collection to be ‘uniquely perfect.’”