VI CORACIIDAE ay, 
tail with light blue on the lateral feathers, the outer pair alone 
having black tips. In the similar (. abyssinicus the two outer 
rectrices are elongated and tapering; in the more purple (. spatu- 
latus they are cobalt-blue with black shafts produced into small 
racquets. C. naevius has an olivaceous back, reddish-lilac head 
and under parts, a white nuchal patch, white streaks on the breast, 
blue rump, bend of the wing, lateral rectrices and outer portion of 
the remiges. The genus Hurystomus occupies Tropical Africa,and ex- 
tends from India to Manchuria, Australia and the Solomon Islands, 
occasionally reaching New Zealand. £. glaucurus, of Madagascar 
and Anjuan Island, is bay above and lilac below, with nearly ultra- 
marine wings and cobalt tail tipped with blackish; £. orientalis 
is bluish-green, with blackish head, remiges and rectrices, some 
blue on the wing-coverts, an azure patch on the primaries, and a 
purple throat. £. australis is similar, and is termed the Dollar- 
Bird from exhibiting its circular hight wing-patch when flying. 
The members of these two genera are active, noisy, and 
pugnacious, though shy; they are usually diurnal, but are occa- 
sionally observed hawking for insects at dusk; when disturbed 
they attempt to hide in some neighbouring tree, while they also 
roost or take refuge from the heat among the foliage. The flight 
is swift, though not sustained, the wings being closed from tine 
to time; at the courting season the male darts through the air 
with many a turn and twist, expanding and contracting his 
tail; and both sexes have the habit of rolling or turning somer- 
saults in their course, and of puffing out their cheeks and throat. 
The note is a harsh “ rack-rack-kack” or “ racker-racker,” uttered 
while perched or flying; the food, largely procured when hopping 
on the ground, and frequently jerked into the air before being 
swallowed, consists of small reptiles, frogs, beetles, worms, slugs 
and grasshoppers, if not of grain. Rollers frequent wooded 
country up to an altitude of about two thousand feet, in pairs 
or moderate-sized flocks; they occasionally sit huddled together 
on some branch, but love to perch on tall bare trees or wires, 
whence they energetically challenge Hawks and Crows. The 
four or five oval glossy white eggs are sometimes laid on a mass 
of roots, grass, hair, and feathers, in cavities in walls or under 
eaves of buildings; but more usually with little or no bedding in 
holes in trees or banks. In the breeding season the cock summons 
the hen from her nest, if danger threatens, while both parents 
