Dr. E. Ilopkinson—Gambian Rollers



163



lower bade, mauve ; rump and upper tail-coverts, light purple. The

two central tail feathers, dull oily green, the others dull blue with green

edges diminishing in extent from within outwards. Wing-coverts,

clear mauve in bend of wing, gradually merging into the reddish lilac

of the greater coverts ; coverts at carpal joint and edge of the wing

ultramarine ; wing-quills, duller blue, shading into black at inner edges.

General colour below, pinky brown streaked with white ; chin shows

a few whitish feathers ; throat, sides of neck, breast, and sides, brown

with distinct white streaks, the latter getting broader and more diffuse

towards the abdomen, which is more pinky brown with hardly any

indication of streaks ; thighs, dull mauve ; under wing-coverts, pale

reddish, merging into whitish ; under surface of flights, whitish with

grey terminal portions. Bill, black ; feet, dirty yellow ochre ; iris,

dark brown ; length, 14 inches.


To this description I should add that I think the white nape-spot

may be a sexual distinction. In one of my two this year’s birds this mark

was very slight, in the other larger and more distinct. They are certainly

cock and hen. I got them at Kaiaff, in the South Bank Province,

Gambia, on May 26 last. Some small boys brought them in, saying that

they were “ fighting ” in the air and had fallen locked together at their

feet and been caught before they could disengage. They were quite

uninjured and in perfect condition, and we may safely assume, I think,

that Venus, not Mars, was the cause of their downfall. I put them

together in a large cage, and commencing with locusts and lizards,

soon got them accustomed to captivity and in time to take raw meat

and fish as well as the natural food. They seemed rather to prefer fish

to meat, and of the latter took beef better than mutton, while neither

would touch chicken or other white meat, though birds’ livers, hearts,

etc., were always welcome. The long canoe journey from my province

to headquarters was unfortunately too much for one of the pair, but the

other thrived, and reached the Zoo a day or two ago. It is, I believe,

only the second they have had, the first being one I sent home in

1910. As far as I know these are the only specimens to reach Europe

alive, but on this I wait further information.


Rollers are not exactly good cage-birds nor easy to keep, except

when natural food can be provided. This is quite easy in the African



