]08 



BLUE-BODIED ROLLER. 



Coracias cyanogaster^ CUVIER. 

 PLATE XIII. 



Head, neck, and breast hooded with greenish-fawn colour ; 

 body, above and beneath, and wings, sapphire-blue, the 

 latter with a light green band ; scapulars black ; tail forked 

 and green. 



Coracias cyanogaster, Sy sterna Avium, No. 6, Jar dine and 

 Se%, IU. of Om. pi. 123. 



IP richness of colouring alone constituted beauty, 

 this Roller would he the most splendid of all the 

 hirds of Western Africa. No effort of art can pos- 

 sibly do justice to those inimitably rich lines of 

 ultramarine, beryl colour, and changeable fawn, 

 with which it is ornamented ; for there are no tints 

 hitherto discovered, either mineral or vegetable, 

 which will enable the painter to produce their suc- 

 cessful imitation. 



Le Vaillant seems to be the first who made us 

 acquainted with this magnificent bird, by whom it 

 was described under the name of Le Rollier a venire 

 bleu, and Latinized by M. Cuvier into Coracias 

 cyanogaster. Dr. Wagler has committed two 



