ii8 , BOMBAY DUCKS 



is Coracias garrula^ the European form. This bird some- 

 times visits the hospitable shores of Old England, where 

 it is promptly shot by the bird-collector ; but, as a set-off 

 to this treatment, its appearance is recorded in the news- 

 papers. 



According to books on ornithology, the bird has 

 been noticed in England " about a hundred times since 

 it was first recorded by Religio Medici Browne in 1644." 

 In other words, a hundred specimens of the bird have 

 been shot in England, and probably not one in ten of 

 the hundred slayers could have told you anything about 

 the habits of the bird from personal observation. 



Burma boasts of her own special blue jay, known to 

 science as Coracias affinis. It resembles the Indian 

 species very closely, and, were it not rank heresy to say 

 so, I should feel inclined to maintain that the Burmese 

 bird is but a variety of the Indian one. Certain it is 

 that the two species interbreed freely. 



Lastly, there is the broad-billed roller a beautiful 

 green and blue bird with vermilion beak and legs. It 

 inhabits leafy forests and does not visit towns. This 

 genus, like the other, exhibits local variations, and one 

 ornithologist tried to make three species out of it, and 

 had he been allowed to have his own way he might 

 have made a dozen more ; but the majority of zoologists 

 stoutly resisted temptation. The result is, that instead 

 of our having a number of species of broad-billed 

 roller, so alike that it would need a committee of 

 experts to distinguish one from another, we have one 

 species only, which can be recognized at sight. 



