ROLLER. 217 



THE fifth and last division of the INSESSORES, or Perching 

 Birds, is that of the FISSIROSTRES, which, with slender or 

 small feet, have also considerable width of gape, and feed 

 more or less upon the wing. The British species included 

 in this division are the Roller, the Bee-eater, two King- 

 fishers, the Swallow, the three Martins, the two Swifts, and 

 the Nightjar; among which it will be perceived, from their 

 well-known powers, that those last named have the cha- 

 racters pertaining to this division most strongly marked. 

 The Roller has by several systematic authors been ar- 

 ranged near the Crows ; but its colour, its habits, its eggs, 

 its structure, and other peculiarities, seem to prove that 

 it is more truly allied to the Bee-eaters, Meropidcs, and 

 the Kingfishers, Halcyonidce. 



The Roller is a native of Africa, from the northern parts 

 of which many of them pass to Europe in the spring, re- 

 turning in autumn, and are accordingly abundant at Malta, 

 and other islands in the Mediterranean, which are resting- 

 places on the passage. Shaw, in his History of Barbary, 

 says, " This bird makes a squalling noise, and builds in 

 the banks of the Sheliff, Booberak, and other rivers." M. 

 Vieillot mentions that where trees are scarce, as in Malta, 

 these birds are said to make their nest in the ground; 

 and Pennant, in his Arctic Zoology, confirms this habit, 

 from other authorities, by remarking that in places where 

 trees are wanting, the Roller forms its nest in clayey 

 banks. This mode of nesting and depositing its eggs is 

 precisely similar to the habits of the Bee-eater and the 

 Kingfishers, hereafter to be described, and the eggs of 

 these three birds are exactly alike in colour and shape, 

 and only differ in size in relation to the proportions of the 

 parent birds. 



In Malta, at certain seasons, Rollers are caught in such 

 numbers that they are exposed in the market for sale with 



