toe 
ROLLER. 
CoRACIAS GARRULA, Lin. 
The Roller is said to occur in various parts of 
Asia, having been taken at Aleppo, and in North 
Africa, where it occurs from Morocco to Egypt. It 
extends as far northward as Denmark and Sweden, 
is rather rare in France, and is said never to have 
been found in Holland. Although very rare in Bri- 
tain, it has been'several times obtained in England, 
as well as in Scotland and its islands, one having 
been killed in Orkney, and another in Shetland. 
Being naturally a wild, solitary bird, deep forests 
of oak and birch appear to be its favourite haunts. 
It generally makes its nest in the hollows of trees, 
but where these are scarce, on the ground, or in 
the sandy banks of rivers. It lays from four to 
seven lustrous white eggs, similar in shape to 
those of the Bee-eaters. The food in which it 
chiefly delights consists, besides berries, of crickets, 
cockchafers, grasshoppers, millipedes, and other 
insects. There seems reason to believe that in 
former days, when England, less cultivated, was 
covered more extensively with pathless woods, the 
Roller was frequently seen in the ancient forests. 
Tt probably built its nest then in the hollows of 
trees, as it does in the German forests at the pre- 
sent day. 
