434 'PICARIAN' BIRDS 



The name roller is derived, it appears, from the habit common to 

 all the birds of this genus of falling or tumbling in the air after the 

 fashion of a tumbler-pigeon. All the rollers have a harsh strident cry, 

 well known to residents in India, which may be uttered when they are 

 disturbed or at other times. They fly with a slow, flapping flight, not 

 unlike that of the jackdaw, and feed chiefly upon large insects. Like 

 so many " picarian " birds, they nest in hollow trees, where they lay four 

 or five long white eggs, the shell of which has a gloss comparable to 

 fine porcelain. 



Of the Indian roller (Coraa'as imiica), which may be recognised by 

 the under surface of the body being only partially blue, an example 

 was shot in Lincolnshire in the autumn of 1883 ; but the report of the 

 occurrenceof two wild individuals of the Abyssinian xoWzx {C. abvssiniciis) 

 in Scotland is probably based on error. 



Bee eater Another occasional bright -coloured visitor to our 



(Merops apiaster). ^^'^^^^ ^''^'^ ^^^ ^°"^^ ^' ^^^ bee-eater, the type of 

 the family Meropidai. Bee -eaters, of which there 

 are several kinds, differ from rollers (Coraciidaj) not only in general 

 appearance, but likewise by their longer beak and feebler legs and feet, 

 as well as by the union of the outer and middle toes by a web extending 

 up to their terminal joints. Moreover, whereas the rollers have ten 

 primary quills and twelve tail-feathers, in the bee-eaters these numbers 

 are reversed. The two groups agree, however, in that the sexes are 

 coloured alike, or, at all events, very nearly so ; this brilliant -hucd 

 plumage being probably a permanent breeding-dress. 



In the ordinary bee-eater, which measures about 10^ inches in 

 length, the crown of the head, the neck, the upper portion of the back, 

 and a broad band across the secondary quills of the wing are rich 

 chestnut-brown, in sharp contrast to which are the white of the forehead 

 and the black of the ear-coverts, a space in front of the eyes, and a 

 band across the throat enclosing a j-cllow centre : the quills are bluish 

 green, the lower part of the back is tawny yellow, the tail green, with 

 black tips to the elongated pair of middle feathers, and the under-parts 

 generally are greenish blue ; this brilliant colouring being fitly completed 

 by red eye.s. Females are distinguishable by the less bright tints of 

 their plumage, and the .somewhat less elongated middle tail-feathers ; 

 while young birds may be recogni.sed by a still greater diminution in 

 the length of the latter, the greenish-brown hue of the plumage of the 

 upper-parts, and the absence of the black throat-band. 



The geographical distribution of the bee-cater is very similar to 



