Two articles in the August 1962 issue of the journal British Birds, one a statistical examination by John Nelder, the other an editorial by Max Nicholson and James Ferguson-Lees, made a case using several statistical measures that a series of records of rare birds collected within a 20 miles radius of Hastings, in Kent and Sussex, south-east England, between 1892 and 1930, should be treated with suspicion.