Great Invasion 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 and 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 4 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 tw r o 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 
