THE ROLLERS. ye, 



where the male had been shot. Like Mr. Howard Saunders- 

 (I.e.), I give the story "for what it is worth." 



Range outside the British Islands. This Roller is an inhabitant 

 of the Soudanese Sub-region of Africa, and is found in Sene- 

 gambia, on the Niger, and extends to North-east Africa. It 

 has never been found in any other part of the African con- 

 tinent, and no more improbable visitor to the north of Europe 

 could well be imagined. 



III. THE INDIAN ROLLER. CORACIAS INDICUS. 



Coratias indicus. Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 159 (1766); Sharpe r 

 Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xvii. p. 10 (1892). 



Adult Male. General colour drab-brown, slightly glossed 

 with oily-green; rump greenish-blue, washed with purple; 

 wing-coverts greenish-blue, the lesser coverts bright purplish- 

 blue ; quills also purplish-blue, the inner secondaries like the 

 back, the primaries with a broad sub-terminal band of silvery- 

 blue, decreasing in size towards the centre of the wing ; centre 

 tail-feathers green, the remainder purplish-blue at the base, 

 succeeded by a broad band of silvery-cobalt, and ending in 

 i a band of purplish-blue; crown and nape green, with a 

 greenish-blue eyebrow ; base of forehead sandy-buff, succeeded 

 by a shade of purplish-lilac ; sides of face, throat, and chest 

 purplish-lilac, the feathers streaked with greenish-white shafts ;. 

 breast lilac-brown ; abdomen, thighs, and under wing- and 

 tail-coverts silvery-cobalt ; bill blackish-brown ; feet brownish- 

 yellow ; eyelid and naked skin round the eye pale gamboge ;. 

 iris greyish-brown. Total length, 12 inches; culmen, i'^- y 

 wing, 7'3; tail r 5*o; tarsus, 0*95. 



Adult Female. Similar to the male in colour. Total length,. 

 12 inches; wing, 7-15. 



Range in Great Britain. A Roller was shot at Muckton, near 

 Louth, in Lincolnshire, on the 27th of October, 1883, by a 

 cottager, and was entered in the Migration Report for 1883 

 (p. 47) as Coracias garrulus. The specimen in question has- 

 now become the property of Mr. John Cordeanx, and turns 

 iout to be the Indian Roller. 



