386 EUROPEAN ROLLER. 



Morea, and Temmirick enumerates it. among the 

 Japanese birds. Jn Sicily and Malta it is also 

 said to be frequent, and is there sold in the 

 markets and poulterer's shops. We would desire 

 more information from actual observation as to 

 the habits of this bird than we now possess. It 

 appears to be sylvan in its places of abode, nest- 

 ling in the holes of trees ; the food is chiefly 

 insectivorous, and it is mostly taken on the wing ; 

 but at other times they are said to assemble like 

 rooks in the ploughed fields, to search there for 

 insects ; from all our accounts they are much 

 more terrestrial in their habits than the last, and,' 

 according to Temminck, feed on grasshoppers, 

 worms, snails, and the myriopada, most of which 

 must be sought for and seized upon on the 

 ground. 



We take our description from the Shetland 

 specimen above alluded to. The head, neck, 

 cheeks, and all the under parts verditer blue, 

 sometimes inclining to greenjsh, and changing 

 with the light ; back and scapulars pale chest- 

 nut brown ; the rump and tail coverts bluish 

 purple, the centre of the feathers darkest ; the 

 covers of the shoulders, from the bend of the 

 wing, forming a broad line, are of a brilliant tint, 

 in some lights of deep auricular purple, in others 

 of the blue of smalt, shading on the lower 

 side into ultramarine blue, which is the tint of 

 the lesser and greater coverts, and spurious quills ; 

 the quills and secondaries appear black on the 

 outside, at the base exhibiting a bar of pale 



