CORACIANIN^J. 97 



wings moderate or long, broad ; tail variable, sometimes short 

 and even, at other times with very elongated outer tail-feathers. 



GENUS, Coracias, Lin. 



Bill large, moderately thick, lengthened; straight, strong, some- 

 what broad at the base, compressed towards the tip ; culmen sloping, 

 hooked abruptly ; the nostrils basal, oblique, linear, apert ; gape very 

 wide, with strong rictal bristles ; wings tolerably lengthened, the 

 second quill longest, or the second and third sub-equal ; tail even 

 or slightly rounded, short ; tarsus stout, shorter than the middle- 

 toe ; outer-toe nearly free to the base, much longer than the 

 inner-toe ; hind-toe shorter than the inner-toe ; tarsus and toes 

 strongly scutate. 



Coracias jndica, Lin. 



123, Jerdon's Birds of India, ToTT, p. 214 ; Butler, Guzerat; 

 Stray Feathers, Vol. Ill, p. 456 ; Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. 

 IX, p. 382 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 109 ; 

 Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India ; Ibis, 1885, p. 61. 



THE INDIAN ROLLER. 

 Nilkant, Hin. 



Length, 12 to 13'5 ; expanse, 23'3 to 25 ; wing, 7'25 ; tail, 51 ; 

 tarsus, 0'98 ; bill at gape, 17 ; bill at front, 1*1. 



Bill dusky-brown ; irides dark red-brown ; eyelids yellow ; legs 

 dusky orange-yellow. 



Head above and nape dingy greenish-blue, the forehead 

 tinged with rufous ; hind-neck, scapulars, inter-scapulars and 

 tertiaries dull ashy-brown with a green gloss, and tinged with 

 vinous on the hind-neck ; back blue ; rump and upper tail- 

 coverts deep violet-blue ; lesser-coverts and shoulders deep co- 

 balt-blue ; the other coverts dingy greenish -blue ; the winglet, 

 greater coverts and quills pale sky-blue, with a broad band of 

 violet-blue on the middle of the wings, occupying the terminal 

 half of the secondaries and last two or three primaries ; the first 

 seven primaries tipped dark blue ; tail, with the two centre 

 feathers, dull green, the others dark violet-blue, with a broad 

 pale-blue band, occupying the greater part of the terminal half 

 of the tail, and widening exteriorly ; beneath, chin, throat, and 

 breast, light vinous-purple ; the feathers with pale fulvous shafts 

 passing into tawny-isabella, with light streaks on the abdomen ; 

 lower abdomen, flanks, vent, and under tail-coverts pale blue ; 

 wings beneath entirely pale blue, with a broad violet band. 



The Roller, or as Europeans prefer to call it, the Blue Jay, 

 is generally distributed throughout the district ; it is a perma- 

 nent resident, but retires to the better-wooded portions of the 

 country to breed. At and near Hyderabad, Sind, I found many 

 nests and have several times taken them in Central India. 



They breed during April, May and June, in holes in trees, old 



7 



