218 MEROPID^. 



Hoopoes, Bee-eaters, and others. The Maltese are very 

 expert in taking these birds alive. On the European con- 

 tinent the Roller is said to be frequently found in the 

 thickest and most secluded parts of the forests of Ger- 

 many ; some of its habits, however, are but imperfectly 

 known ; it is said to be noisy and restless, laying four eggs 

 of a delicately smooth and shining white ; in shape a very 

 short oval, measuring one inch five lines in length, by one 

 inch one line in breadth. The food of the Roller con- 

 sists of worms, slugs, insects in their various stages, and 

 berries. 



Specimens of the Roller have been killed in two or three 

 instances in Cornwall ; and three examples are said to have 

 been met with in Ireland. This bird has been obtained 

 more frequently in our eastern and north-eastern counties. 

 One was killed at Oakington, in Cambridgeshire, in Octo- 

 ber, 1835. Mr. Knox, in his Systematic Catalogue of the 

 Birds of Sussex, mentions one that was shot by Mr. 

 Tomsett, at Alfriston, and another in July, 1843, on 

 Chin ton Farm, near the sea, at Cuckmerehaven. Six ex- 

 amples are recorded to have been killed in Suffolk and 

 Norfolk, the most recent of which occurred in May, 1855. 

 Three or four specimens have been killed in Yorkshire, 

 the last of which happened in July, 1847. Mr. Backhouse, 

 at Newcastle, has a specimen in his collection killed in 

 that vicinity, and another is recorded to have been shot at 

 North Shields. Mr. Selby mentions that he had examined 

 one that was found dead in the plantations of Earl Grey 

 in Northumberland; and the bird figured from by Mr. 

 Selby, in illustration of his own work, was killed at Dun- 

 keld, in Perthshire. M'Pherson Grant, Esq., of Edin- 

 burgh, sent me notice of a specimen obtained in the eastern 

 part of Scotland ; Sir William Jardine possesses one that 

 was killed in Orkney ; and Mr. Bullock had in his Museum 



