Descriptive List of the Common Birds 



the day the more vigorously does the bird call. 

 (Illus. B. D., p. 246; also B. B., p. 57.) 



115. Coracias indie a : The Indian Roller, 

 or '' Blue Jay." (F. 1022), (J. 123), ( + III.) 



This is a most familiar bird. Its head and 

 neck, throat and shoulders, are the colour of a 

 faded port-wine stain. Its wings and tail are 

 composed of alternate broad bands of light and 

 dark blue. These organs are not very much 

 en evidence when the bird is perched ; but 

 flight transforms it ; as it flaps heavily along 

 it is a study in Oxford and Cambridge blue. 



It is found in most parts of India, but not 

 in the island of Bombay. 



It nests at the beginning of the hot weather 

 in a hole in a building or a decayed tree. At 

 the breeding season it is very noisy, uttering 

 strange hoarse cries as it performs weird antics 

 in the air, or, sitting on a perch, it every now 

 and again utters a loud tshock, accompanied 

 by a vibration of the tail. 



In Burma this species is replaced by an allied 

 one — Coracias affinis — the Burmese Roller. 

 (Illus. B. D., p. 112; also B. P., p. 12, and 

 B. C. cover.) 



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