ROLLER. 14. 
worms, snails, and berries; and when these cannot be had, 
on frogs, it is said, and even carrion. The indigestible part 
of their food is cast up in pellets, as with the Hawks and 
Owls. ‘They are said never to drink. 
The Roller is a noisy and clamorous bird, like the Jay, 
and its voice is described as a mere squall, or chatter, re- 
sembling that of the Magpie. Meyer renders it by the words 
‘wrah, wrah,’ ‘rakker-rakker,’ and ‘crea.’ 
The nest, composed of small fibres, straws, feathers, and 
hair, is built in the hollows of trees, but also where trees are 
searce, on the ground, or in holes of banks. In the former 
ease the birch is said to be preferred; whence its German 
name of the ‘Birch Jay.’ The same situation is resorted to 
again and again if the birds have not been disturbed. 
The eggs, of a rotund form, are four or five to six or 
seven in number, and of a shining white, like those of the 
Bee-eater and Kingfisher. The male and female sit on them 
by turns, and they are hatched in about three weeks; during 
which time the latter is so devoted to her task, that she 
will frequently allow herself to be captured on the nest. The 
young are fed with insects and caterpillars, and the parents 
exhibit a strong attachment towards them. 
Male; length, about one foot one inch; bill, yellowish 
brown at the base, black at the tip; iris, reddish brown; 
there is a small bare tubercle behind each eye; a few bristles 
surround the base of the bill. Forehead, whitish; head, neck, 
and nape, pale iridescent bluish green; chin, greyish white; 
throat, dark purple; breast, pale bluish green; back, pale 
reddish brown. 
The wings expand to the width of two feet four inches, 
and extend to two thirds of the tail; beneath they are a 
splendid blue; greater and lesser wing coverts, intense greenish 
blue. The primaries have a bar of pale purple at the base, 
and are bluish black at the tips; the two first have their 
narrow webs black tinged with green, the four next pale blue 
to the middle, then gradually darker, ending in black; the 
other quills still darker; the first feather is rather longer 
than the fourth, the second rather longer than the third, and 
the longest in the wing; secondaries, greenish blue at the 
base, with a bar of pale purple; beneath, rich blue; tertiaries, 
yellowish brown; larger and lesser under wing coverts, greenish. 
The tail, of twelve feathers, has the outermost ones, which 
are elongated in the male bird, pale ultramarine blue, tipped 
