Rollers 483 



Rollers. The members of the second subfamily (Cor acting), to the number 

 of five or six genera and thirty or more species, are quite widely dispersed over 

 the temperate and tropical portions of the Old World, being most abundant in 

 the Ethiopian region. Many of them are very brilliant in plumage with com- 

 binations of blue, green, and reddish, and they take the common name of Rollers 

 from the peculiar evolutions they execute while on the wing. They possess a 

 strong, almost Crow-like bill, with the narrow nostrils placed near the base of 

 the upper mandible and nearly hidden by bristly feathers, but, unlike those last 

 considered, they are without the powder-down patches on the rump; the sexes 

 are alike in coloration. 



Pitta-Rollers. Madagascar is the home of a group of four genera 

 (Brachypteracias, Atelornis, Coracopitta, and Uratelornis) and five species of 

 ground-haunting forms known as Pitta-Rollers, distinguished by the elongated 

 and stout tarsus and mainly terrestrial habits. They frequent the dense 

 forests and are not often seen on the wing, keeping mostly to the ground or 

 perching on low trees, and by some observers they are said to be more or less 

 crepuscular. They feed on insects, small reptiles, etc., which they seek by 

 scratching among the moss and dead leaves after the manner of gallinaceous 

 birds. Not much is definitely known regarding their nidification, but they 

 appear to deposit their white eggs in holes in trees or banks. It is believed 

 by the natives that some of the species hibernate. 



True Rollers. The typical and largest genus of true Rollers (Coracias) 

 comprises some sixteen species of splendid birds, spread mainly over Africa, 

 but extending also through central and southern Europe, Asia Minor, the In- 

 dian peninsula, and the Burmese countries to Celebes. They have a long, 

 rather compressed bill with a wide gape, rather long, broad wings, and a rela- 

 tively short tarsus. They are shy, wild birds, distinctly arboreal in their habits, 

 frequenting woods, groves, gardens, and occasionally inhabited places, and are 

 strong and swift in flight. They feed largely on insects, most of which they cap- 

 ture on the wing, occasionally, however, descending to the ground for them. 

 Their nests are made in hollow trees, overhanging banks, old ruins, or sometimes 

 in inhabited houses, and their eggs are pure white and glossy. There is a group 

 of small species in which the outer tail-feathers are greatly elongated, and some- 

 times with racket-shaped tips. One of the long-tailed species is the Abyssinian 

 Roller (C. dbyssinicfts), a bird about seventeen inches in length which inhabits 

 Abyssinia and the Soudan. The crown, nape, sides of the head, throat, and 

 under parts generally are a greenish turquoise-blue, darker on the crown and 

 paler on the abdomen; the back and shoulders are reddish cinnamon, while 

 the rump and upper tail-coverts are a rich ultramarine-blue, as are the smaller 

 wing-coverts, the other coverts and quills being greenish blue and ultramarine- 

 blue, respectively; the outer tail-feathers extend for six inches beyond the others. 

 South of the equator the Long-tailed Roller (C. caudatus} takes the place of the 

 other, while the Racket-tailed Roller (C. spatulatus) inhabits East and Southeast 

 Africa. 



Common Roller. Perhaps the best-known species of the genus is the 



