THE ROLLER -i:il 



l>. tia\s the presence of a nest not far away. Even where several 

 pairs are breeding close at hand, suspicion is at once aroused by the 

 presence of a xxatchrr. and givat imxxillingness (o disclose tin- ncsting- 

 site is always sh>\\n. at an\ rate in tin- earlier stages of breeding. 



Commander Lx ncs noticed in Sicily that the cock warned the hen 

 when danger was at hand, and she took advantage of the warning to 

 slip a wax |iiietly from the hole. 



I ti tivrs there is often no nest, or a mere handful of grass and a few 

 dead chips, but in some cases a rough bed of roots, grasses, feathers, 

 or hair may be found. The eggs are usually four or five, sometimes only 

 three or even six in number, pure white and smooth, but less glossy 

 than those of the great black-woodpecker, and not so pointed. The 

 average size of 208 Russian eggs is, according to Herr Goel>el, T39 x 

 Til in. [35*4 x 28*4 mm.]. Kriiper states that in Asia Minor he found 

 a clutch in which the most recently laid egg was normal, but the others 

 were stained by rain acting on the nest material till they resembled 

 ptarmigan eggs! Both sexes are said to take part in incubation, 1 but 

 unfortunately Mr. W. H. St Quintin, who has bred this species in con- 

 finement, does not mention whether this was the case with his birds. 

 The incubation period is apparently eighteen to twenty days, 3 and so 

 closely does the sitting bird incubate that she will often allow herself 

 to be caught on the nest When the young are hatched, both parents 

 take part in feeding them, but the excreta are never removed, and the 

 young become exceedingly dirty. Naumann graphically states that 

 they sit in dirt and filth to over their ears, and that their smell is most 

 offensive in consequence. Mr. St Quintin's first young bird left the 

 nest twenty-six days after the cries of the newly-hatched young were 

 first heard. It could perch and fly well from the first, and two days 

 later a second followed. For about a week afterwards they returned 

 to the nest-hole to sleep. In a wild state the young are seen with the 

 parents after they have left the nest, and are fed by them. 



1 Naumann, \<itnrgf*chichU d. V&gel MitteUuropat, iv. 800. 

 * Ban gives the period aa seventeen days. 



