Sussex: A. H. Butler Limited, 1968. Octavo, colour photographs, very good copy in dustwrapper.

One of the great ornithological controversies. George Bristow (1863 -1947), a taxidermist at St Leonards-on-Sea supplied, between 1892 and 1930, a disproportionately large number of rare bird specimens which found their way onto British bird lists. In 1962 statistician John Nelder published an analysis in British Birds, demonstrating that the records were unlikely to be genuine. This was supported by an editorial in the same issue and 29 bird species or subspecies were dropped from the British List. On the basis of later records from elsewhere in Britain, most have subsequently been readmitted.

This book, written by a family friend, is a refutation of the British Birds paper. A recent paper by Tom Morris (2021) comes to a similar, but not unequivocal, conclusion that Bristow was innocent of fraud.

For other titles on ornithological fraud refer to Garfield, 'The Meinertzhagen mystery: the life and times of a colossal fraud, 2007' and two books by Penny Olsen 'Glimpses of paradise: the quest for the beautiful parrakeet, 2007' and 'Night parrot: Australia's most elusive bird, 2018'.