possibly three, decades of the 20th century, through importing bird specimens from outside the British Isles, and selling them to wealthy ornithologists, such as Walter Rothschild, as having been procured from the Hastings area. John Nelder later estimated that Bristow had made about £7000, a considerable amount of money at the time, from this scheme, although there is considerable dispute as to how much Bristow might really have made from his sales. The deletion of several taxa from the list had considerable repercussions. As the suspect records covered nearly four decades, many had been incorporated into books about birds in Britain, including major ornithological reference works, and there was resistance from some ornithologists to accepting the deletions. David Bannerman, in the late stages of completing his monumental The Birds of the British Isles (12 vols, 1933–63), decided to maintain his faith in the validity of the controversial Hastings records and ignore the decision to delete them from the list. Since then, most of the species dropped have been readmitted to the list on the basis of reliable subsequent records. Surviving specimens Fifty of the rarities are held in the Birmingham Museums Trust natural history collection. Bird species dropped from the British List in 1962 Cory's shearwater – since readmitted Slender-billed curlew – since readmitted but subsequently removed Grey-tailed tattler – since readmitted Terek sandpiper – since readmitted Semipalmated sandpiper – since readmitted Black lark – since readmitted Calandra lark – since readmitted Cetti's warbler – since readmitted Moustached warbler Olivaceous warbler – since readmitted Rüppell's warbler – since readmitted Sardinian warbler – since readmitted Brown flycatcher – since readmitted Collared flycatcher – since readmitted Masked shrike – since readmitted White-winged snowfinch Sources Harrison, James M. (1968). Bristow and the Hastings Rarities Affair. A. H. Butler: St Leonards-on-Sea, U.K. Seabrook, John. (2006). Ruffled feathers. Uncovering the biggest scandal in the bird world. The New Yorker, 29 May 2006: 50–61. Senn, Stephen. (2003). A conversation with John Nelder. Statistical Science 18(1): 118–131. References External links Ornithology in the United Kingdom Hoaxes in science Hoaxes in England 20th-century hoaxes Fraud in England