KURYSTOMUS. 



347 



January 1897, as the birds were then all in the moult. Dr. Ernst Hartert has also recorded it 

 from Derby in "Novitates Zoologies;" - also from Eureka and the South Alligator River, in the 

 Northern Territory of South Australia. 



The times of arrival of the Roller, or Dollar-bird, to the eastern portions of the 

 Australian Continent, are almost the same as those of the Bee-eater. In North-western 

 Australia and Cape York it is found throughout the early winter months. On the Herbert 

 River it arrives from the north at the latter end of September or early in October, and 

 remains to breed. It is a visitant to Central Queensland in the latter month, and to the northern 

 parts of New South Wales at precisely the same time as it is observed on the Herbert River, 

 the latter end of September or beginning of October. In some seasons it is earlier, for on one 

 occasion I saw some young birds that were taken from a nesting place in the hollow bough of a 

 Eucalyptus, near Newcastle, on the 2nd of October, 1892. In the southern parts of New South 

 Wales, and in Victoria, it is a comparatively rare species. The journey northwards is made 

 from New South Wales at the end of February or March, according to the season. Unlike the 

 Bee-eater, the Australian Roller is more freely distributed throughout the coastal districts than 

 it is inland. I met with it in November, 1896, breeding in open forest country on the western 

 side of the Nundewar Range, and it is a regular visitor to the neighbourhood of Sydney, and is 

 generally met with in scattered pairs here and there, but is nowhere common. It is a briUiantly 

 plumaged bird, and the round white spot on each wing is very conspicuous during flight. In 

 thinly timbered districts it is generally shy and wary, resorting to the topmost dead limbs of 

 high trees, and only ventures near an intruder when its eggs or young are menaced by danger. 

 The note of the Roller or Dollar-bird is peculiarly harsh and discordant, and is uttered chiefly 

 while on the wing, and is usually more noisy shortly after sunset. Its food consists entirely of 

 insects of various kinds. These birds are not usually gregarious, but Mr. Boyd once witnessed a 

 number of them hawking for insects in company with Chatura candacuta. Mr. R. Etheridge, the 

 Curator, also informs me that towards the latter end of 1908 over fifty Dollar-birds were con- 

 gregated on the dead limbs of the trees surrounding his house at Colo \'ale. New South Wales, 

 but in a few days they had gradually dispersed about the bush. 



Mr. Frank Hislop sends me the following note :— " In the Bloomfield River District, North- 

 eastern Queensland, Eurystomus pacificus is usually seen in the forest lands. As a rule they lay 

 their eggs in a lofty hollow limb of a tree, but I saw one pair of birds nesting in a Termites mound 

 on a tree, which had been previously used by a pair of Laughing Jackasses." 



While resident at Ripple Creek, Herbert River, Queensland, Mr. J. A. Boyd sent me the 

 following interesting note : — " Eurystomus pacificus arrives here usually in the latter half of 

 September. On the ist December, 1892, I got an aboriginal to climb for a Roller's nest, and 

 got four fresh eggs." Writing on the 25th November, 1897, Mr. Boyd remarks :— " You cannot 

 trust the blacks a bit. About a fortnight ago, when I was laid up, one brought me five eggs, 

 which he insisted were those of Dacclo leachi ; he was quite positive they were not Roller's. As 

 they were heavily incubated I put them in a pannikin and left them in my room, and a few 

 days afterwards two Rollers hatched out." Mr. Boyd also sent me the following notes on some 

 of the migratory species visiting Ripple Creek, Herbert River :— " As a rule Calornis metdlica 

 first arrives here about the beginning of August, Scythrops nova-hollandia and Eurystomus pacificus 

 a few weeks after ; all leave again as soon as the first snap of cold weather comes on, generally 

 about the beginning of May. Writing on the 7th i\Iay, 1S94, Mr. Boyd remarks :—" A few 

 r Calornis and Eurystomus still remain ; and again on the 24th, " The Weavers and Rollers that 

 were here when I last wrote have left ; both overstayed their usual time." On the nth January, 

 1893, he writes :— " You asked me some time ago about the arrival and departure of Scythrops 

 nova-hollandice. Last year I heard the first on the 26th September, and several were flying about 

 • Nov. Zool., Vol. XII., p. 214 (1905 ) 



