A model given by Henriksen and Chia (1972) for short duty cycle X-ray flare sources has been extended by Henriksen (1976), and applied to the recently discovered X-ray bursters. We use their notation here unless otherwise indicated. The model envisages a rapidly rotating magnetic white dwarf or neutron star located in a dense stream or cloud of gas such as might be found in close binary systems or in dense interstellar clouds. The basic charging mechanism for the flare is the accretion of matter into the hydromagnetic wave zone of the rotator at the ‘Bondi’ or ‘tail-shock’ rate (corresponding to a thermal cloud or a stream,-respectively), AB.