COMMON ROLLER. 331 
when fully adult ; but females of the second year are duller in colour. 
Males, and especially females, of the year have the whole of the plumage ~ 
more or less suffused with brown, which is still more the case in young in 
first plumage, almost entirely obscuring the chestnut and brown. 
The Roller often shows a tendency to an elongation of the outside 
feather on each side of the tail, a feature which seems to be permanently 
developed to a remarkable extent in a very nearly allied species, C. abys- 
sinica, which does not otherwise materially differ. An example of a male 
of this species was- presented to the Paisley Museum by Mr. Small (the 
father of the well-known bird-stuffer in Edinburgh), who stated that it was 
shot near Glasgow about the year 1857, and brought to him in the flesh. 
He also stated that the female was obtained, a short time afterwards, about 
forty miles from the locality where the male was shot. It is a resident 
throughout Africa south of the Desert and in Southern Arabia. It has 
never been known to occur in any part of continental Europe; and it 
is difficult to avoid coming to the conclusion that the bird in the Paisley 
Museum had escaped from confinement, 
q 
O 
