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Dr. E. Hophinson—Gambian Boilers



bush, where lizards, grasshoppers, etc., are abundant, but when it

comes to town life, even in Africa, where such things are not obtainable,

meat has to be the staple diet, and on this they do not do so well, though

when this can be supplemented with cockroaches, mealworms, small

mice, and even small birds, Rollers keep in fair health, and being by

no means timid birds in confinement do not knock themselves about

or spoil their plumage.


The fourth Gambian Roller belongs to a different genus. It is :—-


Eurystomus afer. The Broad-billed Roller.


Range .—Tropical Africa. (II.L.)


These are smaller birds than the typical Rollers, and very different

in shape, being built somewhat on the lines of a big-bodied swallow,

with a broad, triangular bill and very wide gape. In the Gambia

they arrive about the beginning of May and commence breeding almost

at once, before the rains set in. This year and once before I have had

young almost full-feathered brought me, but have not been able to

keep them. They lived well enough while crammed with white ants

or other insects, but would never pick up food for themselves, and I

presume that their chief food is small insects caught in flight.


They are usually found in parties of twenty or more ; but I have

frequently seen parties of a hundred or more, especially at the beginning

and end of their stay with us, May and December. They haunt places

where there are large trees, the upper branches of which are their usual

perches, and round the tops of which they float and wheel in the air

like large Swallows, as soon as the cool of the sunset hour approaches ;

they then fill the upper air with their shrill chattering, and continue their

flight far into the night, especially when there is a moon, eventually

retiring to roost in company on the topmost branches of some large

tree. In the mornings, too, before the sun gets hot, one often sees

flocks of them on the wing, but during the heat of the day they are

quiescent. Like the Senegal Rollers their skins have a certain value

to the native hunters, as they fetch 50 centimes at the French ports.


The general colour above is cinnamon brown, the rump and upper

tail-coverts dull blue ; the wings are blue, the lateral tail feathers

bright blue,.shading at the ends into darker blue, while the middle



