CHAPTER XIII 



THE ROLLERS, MOTMOTS, KINGFISHERS, BEE-EATERS, 

 HOOPOES, AND HORNBILLS 



Order— CORACI^ 



The Order Coraciae comprises a remarkable assemblage of birds, 

 mostly of brilliant plumage, and, in the case of the Hornbills, bizarre 

 in shape. 



The Rollers, which look rather like gorgeously coloured members 

 of the Crow tribe, have representatives over all the temperate parts 

 of Europe, the whole of Africa, and Central and Southern Asia. 

 They are extremely beautiful birds, intense blue and green being 

 the dominant colours of their plumage. 



The Common Roller (Plate XIX. fig. 6) occasionally strays to 

 Great Britain, and hence is to be reckoned a British bird. Though 

 Rollers mostly hunt by day, they may frequently be seen, where they 

 are plentiful, hawking for insects at dusk. During the courting- 

 season the males practise a very curious flight, turning and twisting 

 in the air, the while expanding and contracting the tail. But both 

 sexes have a habit of *' rolling," or turning somersaults, in the air, 

 hence their name of *' Rollers." They breed in holes in walls, roofs 

 of houses, and tree-trunks, laying several glossy white eggs, for which 

 they make little or no nest — at best but a mass of roots, grass, hair, 

 and feathers. 



The Motmots are South American birds, green in colour, and 

 having a peculiarly notched beak. But they are unique among 

 birds in that the male deliberately bites away a part of the middle 

 of the webs of the two central tail-feathers, leaving a long, spoon- 



93 



