72 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



under surface of body light greenish-blue, paler on the abdo- 

 men and under tail-coverts ; lower back and rump purplish- 

 blue ; wing-coverts greenish-blue, those along the edge of the 

 wing purplish-blue ; quills black, the outer web greenish-blue 

 at the base, shading into purple ; primary quills externally 

 greenish-blue, the secondaries externally purple ; centre tail- 

 feathers dull oily-green, the remainder greenish-blue for two- 

 thirds of the outer web and black on the inner web, the ends 

 of the feathers greenish-blue with a black shaft, the blue in- 

 creasing in extent on the outside tail-feathers, the outermost 

 having a black spot at the tip ; bill blackish horn-colour ; 

 feet dark yellow ; iris dark brown. Total length, 12 inches; 

 culmen, 1*3; wing, 7*5; tail, 4*8; tarsus, 0*85. 



Adult Female. Liks the male in plumage. Total length, 

 1 2 inches ; wing, 7 -4. 



Young Birds. Resemble the adults, but are much duller in 

 colour, the head and neck being oily-green, the blue on the 

 wings not so bright, and the greenish-blue portion shaded with 

 brown ; the colour of the under-parts much duller, and the 

 outer tail-feathers not tipped with black. 



Range in Great Britain. An occasional visitor in spring and 

 autumn. It has occurred over a hundred times, and has been 

 met with as far north as the Orkneys and Shetland Isles, as 

 well as in Ireland, where some half-dozen notices of its 

 capture have been recorded. It is, however, in the southern 

 and eastern counties of England that the Roller has most 

 frequently occurred. 



Eange outside the British Islands. The Roller is a summer 

 migrant to Central and Southern Europe, being more plentiful 

 in the south, arriving in April and departing in August. It is 

 found in Northern Germany, and breeds in Sweden as far as 

 61 N. lat, and as far as St. Petersburg in Russia. Its eastern 

 range extends to the Altai Mountains and to Cashmere, while 

 it also occurs as far north as Omsk in Siberia. The winter 

 home of the Common Roller is in Africa, where it reaches the 

 Cape, passing through Egypt and through Eastern Africa to 

 arrive at its winter home. The bird breeds in Cashmere, 

 and apparently a few winter in North-western and Central 



