C0RACI1D.«. 



THE ROLLER. 



CORACIAS GARRULUS, LinnKus. 



This bright-plumaged bird was first recorded as a visitor to our 

 islands by Sir Thomas Browne, who described a specimen obtained 

 in Norfolk in jNIay 1644. Since then, upwards of a hundred 

 examples have been noticed, chiefly on the southern and eastern 

 coasts of England and Scotland ; however, some have visited 

 the Orkneys and Shetlands, while on the west one has even 

 reached St. Kilda. In Ireland there have been five or six occur- 

 rences, at long intervals. The majority of its appearances in the 

 British Islands have been in the autumn, but a fair proportion 

 during the spring migration. 



To the Faeroes and the north of Norway the Roller is only a 

 straggler, and it is scarce in any part of the latter country ; but in 

 Sweden it breeds annually up to about 61° N. lat., and in Russia, 

 sparingly, as far north as St. Petersburg. In Northern Ger- 

 many it is not uncommon in summer, though rare in Denmark, 

 Holland, Belgium and Northern France; in Central Europe it 

 is tolerably abundant ; while in Spain and other countries bordering 

 the Mediterranean it is very numerous, arriving in the Peninsula 

 from the middle of March onwards, and leaving by November at 

 the latest. Eastward, it is plentiful in Turkey, Southern Russia, 



