I i rent I /was/ on of Crossbills in 1909. 351 



very few remained. They seem to have reappeared in small 

 numbers in October. Northerly winds prevailed at the time 

 they arrived, and fresher than in former summers. Another 

 informant tells me that altogether about seventy must have 

 been trapped, and that it is about twenty-six years since 

 these birds last visited the island. Some attribute the 

 visitation to the extraordinary prevalence of strong northerly 

 breezes last summer." 



From Greece and from countries lying to the eastward of 

 the Adriatic I have no information on the subject, but it is 

 very probable, I think, that the wave of the great Crossbill- 

 migration extended in this direction also. 



In the neighbourhood of Constantinople, however, accord- 

 ing to information kindly given me by Colonel Elia, of the 

 Italian Embassy, and Mr. Eyres, our Consul General, it would 

 appear that nothing had been noticed in the way of any 

 unusual passage of the species during the past year. 



Passing from the east to the extreme west of our Continent 

 I will conclude with 



Spain unci Portugal. — From the scanty information so far 

 received from these countries, it appears to be uncertain 

 whether last year's invasion of Crossbills extended so far 

 west. 



With regard to the former country, reading the account 

 given in 'British Birds' (vol. iii. pp. 192-193) of Crossbills 

 having been observed in Andalusia last July, I felt inclined 

 to believe that the incursion of the species from the north 

 had undoubtedly reached as far as that region, but a footnote 

 informed us that two specimens of the Crossbill met 

 with in Andalusia, which had been forwarded for identi- 

 fication, proved to be of the distinct Spanish form 

 L. curvirostra hispana, and that this incursion of Crossbills 

 into Andalusia had therefore no direct connection with the 

 irruption from Northern Europe. 



So far as regards Portugal, the only information which I 

 have been able to obtain regarding the appearance of Cross- 

 bills last year in that country I owe to the kindness of 

 Mr. Wm. C. Tait and his brother, Baron Soutellinho, of 



