Thanks to Michel Fontan for the great -article on "Are Those Feathers Legal". After reading this article, I have several more questions.

What if you have a friend who has become too old to tie flies and wants to give or sell you his feathers, including some of the now protected species? For example, you have a friend who purchased these rare feathers in the 40's, 50's and 60's and has a signed receipt for the feathers stating when and where they were purchased.

What if you have another friend or person who raises rare birds and wants to sell or give you feathers? An example here would be a pet store or hobbyist who has the birds.

Michel Fontan answers:

It is my understanding that the CITES applies mainly to commercial trade of protected species. In the case of a friend who did purchase the material before the 1973 date of creation of the Convention, you would not need any kind of papers other than the receipts stating the date and place of the purchase. If you intend to move these feathers across any country border, you would need to obtain a CITES permit. These permits can be obtained by applying to the appropriate federal agency with the sales receipt documentation.

In the case of a domestic bird raised in the US, the CITES does not apply as long as the use of the material is intended for a hobby use such as fly tying and not for a commercial purpose.

The CITES is really intended as protection from illegal international trading and will have very little to do with the average fly tyer unless he does sell the material in a commercial business. It is legal to buy the material, it is the responsibility of the dealer or sales person to justify the legal aspects of the material.

More information can be found in the actual legal text of the CITES by surfing the web at: http://www.indirect.com/www/bazza/ cites/conv. html

Here is one technique you may want to consider when tying an oval tinsel tip for a tinsel and floss tag. This technique leaves a very smooth surface for the floss tag because no tinsel is brought forward of the tip.

Start by close wrapping the thread back to just short of the point of the barb of the hook. Next strip off about 1/4 inch of the oval tinsel to expose the silk core. Now using a soft-loop tie in the tinsel on top of the hook shank. Next pull back slightly on the tinsel to expose about 1/16 inch of silk beyond the tie down point. Then with flattened thread, firmly bind down the tinsel with two thread wraps edge-to-edge. With open wraps, wind the thread forward to get it out of the way. Close wrap the tinsel, 5 turns, with the first turn on the bare hook. Unwind the thread and secure the tinsel with two wraps of thread on the bottom of the hook. Next, using tweezers, strip the tinsel to expose the core. Carefully remove the thread wraps while holding the tinsel in place, and bind down the silk with one wrap of flattened thread. Trim the excess tinsel, and wind the thread to the floss tie in point.