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This page is part of the Museum of Hoaxes' Hoax Photo Archive, a catalog of photo fakery throughout history. Images are categorized by theme, technique of fakery, and time period.
Hoax Museum Archives
The Nest of a Fatu-Liva
Status: Satirical false caption
Technique of Fakery: False Caption.
Date and Time Period: 1921; (1920-1939)
Themes: Animals, Humor
Technique of Fakery: False Caption.
Date and Time Period: 1921; (1920-1939)
Themes: Animals, Humor

The Cruise of the Kawa: Wanderings in the South Seas was a tongue-in-cheek travel book presented to the public as the real-life adventures of Walter E. Traprock and his band of compatriots on the (non-existent) Filbert Islands in the South Pacific. The book included this picture of the nest of the bizarre Fatu-Liva, a bird that supposedly lay square, spotted eggs. The caption noted: "Skeptics have said that it would be impossible to lay a square egg. To which the author is justly entitled to say: 'The camera never lies.'" The picture demonstrates, satirically, that a caption can falsify a picture just as well as darkroom tricks can. The square eggs are, of course, dice.
References:
Traprock, W.E. (1921). The Cruise of the Kawa: Wanderings in the South Seas. G.P. Putnam's Sons: pg.124.
Traprock, W.E. (1921). The Cruise of the Kawa: Wanderings in the South Seas. G.P. Putnam's Sons: pg.124.
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