200 Mr. R. B. Sharpe on the 



as the wood-region, and the country far from any water or springs. 

 The birds are to be observed mostly in pairs or in faniiUes, as 

 much on the dead tops of trees as in bushes. It by no means 

 seldom descends to the ground, or catches insects, especially 

 grasshoppers, in flight. Generally speaking, it is not a shy 

 bird, but is very active, noisy, and quarrelsome with other 

 birds. 



" The pairing takes place in the rainy season ; then the male 

 may be seen mounting high into the air, shooting straight for- 

 ward, or twisting about like a snake, spreading out and con- 

 tracting his tail, uttering quickly all the while the most extra- 

 ordinary noises. According to Brehm and Vierthaler, it nests 

 in the holes of trees. On the other hand, I have found authen- 

 tic nests of this Roller on the top of rather bare trees on the 

 steppes. They are like lightly built Magpies^ nests. Also 

 Hemprich and Ehrenberg tell us in like manner, ' Ova virent, 

 fragmenta vidi. Nidus in fico sycomoro ut Corvorum nostro- 

 rum, laxius sociales, e ramulis aridis facti, minores.' Lefebvre 

 tells us something extraordinary : ' The Blue Roller is called in 

 Tigre Ouadde-cjidmele, which signifies Child of the Cloud, be- 

 cause these birds troop together like clouds in large flocks.^ 

 This note must evidently, by an error, be intended for some 

 other species. According to Lefebvre, the edge of the eyelid is 

 Vermillion. The southern range of the Abyssinian Blue Roller 

 in our country extends to the other side of the line of the 

 equator." 



Mr. Blanford thus writes [I. c.) concerning this species, as 

 observed by him during the recent Abyssinian expedition : — 



" The habits are precisely similar to those of C. indica. It is 

 frequently seen sitting on trees or on bare stems, and thence 

 descending to the ground for insects, or catching them in the 

 air. This bird is not rare locally on the highlands, but by no 

 means generally distributed. I saw it occasionally between 

 Dolo and Antalo, and again rather more commonly about Lake 

 Ashangi (8000 feet above the sea), and in some of the valleys 

 further south, but not on the plateaux. It was very common 

 in the subtropical region of the Anseba and Lebka ; and I saw 

 one or two birds, in August, in Sambar, near the coast. It is 



