PASSERINE. 



311 



hollows of trees, and migrates in winter. It feeds on worms, 

 insects and small frogs. 



There are some Rollers foreign to Europe, which have a 

 square tail(l); the external quills in that of the European spe- 

 cies, however, are somewhat elongated in the male, the first 

 indication of their great length in several others. (2) 



CoLARIS, Cuv.(3) 

 Differs from Coracias in a shorter and more arcuated beak, and 

 particularly in the enlargement of its base, which is more broad 

 than high. (4) 



Paradis^ea, Lin. 

 The Birds of Paradise, like the Crows, have a strong, straight, 

 compressed beak, without any emarginations, and with covered nos- 

 trils; but the influence of the climate they inhabit, an influence ex- 

 tended to birds of several other genera, gives a velvet tissue to the 

 feathers which cover these nostrils, and frequently a metallic lustre, 

 at the same time that it singularly developes those which cover 

 several parts of the body. They .are natives of New Guinea and of 

 the adjoining islands; and as it is difficult to obtain them except from 

 the savage inhabitants of those countries, who prepare them by cut- 

 ting off the wings and feet, it was thought for some time that the 

 first species was really destitute, of those members, and lived con- 

 stantly in air, supporting itself there by its long feathers. Tra- 

 vellers, however, having succeeded in obtaining perfect individuals 

 of certain species, it is now known that their feet and wings indicate 

 their claim to the place we have assigned to them. They are said 

 to live on fruits, and to be particularly fond of aromatics. 



(1) Coracias bengalensis, Enl. 285, is evidently the same as the indica, Edw. 326 

 and as the fig', of Albin. I, 17, quoted under caudata,- Coracias viridis, Nob. 

 Vaill. 1, 31; Vieill. Gal. 110; C. Teminckii, Vaill., pi. G. 



(2) Coracias ahyssinica, Enl. 626, and its variety C. senegala, Enl. 326, Edw 

 327. C. caudata is merely an individual of the same species, disfigured by the ad 

 dition of the head of a. bengalensis (Vaill. loo. cit, p. 105). Cor. cyanogaster. Nob 

 Vaill., loc. cit. pi. sxvi. 



N.B. Cor. caffra, where Shaw quotes Edw. 320, can only be a Thrush (^Turdus 

 nitens); C. sinensis, Enl. 620, by its emarginated beak also approaches either the 

 Thrushes or the Shrikes. M. Shaw thinks that C. viridis, Lath, is an Mcedo. C 

 strepera and C. varia. Lath, are Cassicans; C, militaris and C. scutata, Shaw, 

 Piauhaus; C. mexicana, Seb. 1, pi. Ixiv, f. 5, is the Jay of Canada; C. cayana, 

 Enl. 616, a Tanager. 



(3) Colaris is the Greek name of an unknown bird. Vielllot has changed it into 



that of EuRYSTOMUS. 



(4) Coracias orientalist Enl. 619; Cor. mudagascariensis, Enl. 501; Cor. afra, 

 Lath. Vaill. loc. cit., pi. xxxv. 



