280 BIRDs. 
Coractas*, Lin. 
The Rollers have a strong bill, compressed near the point, which is a 
little hooked. The nostrils are oblong, placed at the edge of the feathers, 
but without being covered by them; the feet short and stout. They be- 
long to the eastern continent, and are like the Jays in their habits, and in 
the loose feathers on the forehead. Their colours are vivid, but rarely 
harmonious. Some peculiarities of their anatomy approximate them to 
the Kingfishers and Pies, such as two emarginations in their sternum, a 
single pair of muscles to their inferior larynx, and a membranous stomach t. 
Tur Roxiers, properly so called, 
Have a straight bill, every where higher than wide. There is one in 
Europe. 
Coracias garrula, L.; Enl. 486. (The Common Roller). Sea- 
green; back and scapulars fawn-coloured; pure blue on the tip of 
the wing; about the size of the Jay. It isa very wild bird, although 
sociable enough with its fellows, noisy, builds in the hollows of trees, 
and migrates in winter. It feeds on worms, insects, and small frogs. 
There are some Rollers foreign to Europe, which have a square 
tailt; the external quills in that of the European species, however, 
are somewhat elongated in the male, the first indication of their great 
length in several others §. 
Coxaris ||, Cuv. 
Differs from Coracias in a shorter and more arcuated bill, and particu- 
larly in the enlargement of its base, which is more broad than high**. 
ParavDisHa, Lin. 
The Birds of Paradise, like the Crows, have a strong, straight, com- 
pressed bill, without any emarginations, and with covered nostrils; but 
the influence of the climate they inhabit, an influence extended te birds 
* This name, consecrated by the authority of Linneus, has been changed by 
Vieillot into that of GALGaLus, which, among the ancient Latins, belonged to the 
Oriole. 
+ Nitsch, ap. Nauman, I1., p. 156. 
t Coracias bengalensis, Enl. 285, is evidently the same as the indica, Edw. 326, 
and as the fig. of Albin, 1, 17, quoted under caudata ;—Coracias viridis, Nob.; Vaill. 
1,31; Vieill. Gal. 110;—C. Teminckii, Vaill., pl. G. 
§ Coracias abyssinica, Enl. 626, and its variety C. senegala, Enl. 326, Edw. 327. 
C. caudata is merely an individual of the same species, disfigured by the addition of 
the head of a bengalensis (Vaill. loc. cit., p. 105).—Cor. eyanogaster, Nob., Vaill., 
loc. cit. pl. xxvi. 
N.B. Cor. caffra, where Shaw quotes Edw. 320, can only be a Thrush (Turdus 
nitens) ;—C. sinensis, En]. 620, by its emarginated beak also approaches either the 
Thrushes or the Shrikes. M. Shaw thinks that C. viridis, Lath. is an Alcedo.—C. 
strepera and C. varia, Lath. are Cassicans; C. militaris and C. scutata, Shaw, 
Piauhaus;—C. meaicana, Seb. 1, pl. lxiv, f. 5, is the Jay of Canada;—C. cayana, 
Enl. 616, a Tanager. 
|| Colaris is the Greek name of an unknown bird.—Vieillot has changed it into 
that of EurysToMus, 
** Coracias orientalis, Enl. 619;—Cor. madagascariensis, Enl. 501;—Cor. afra, 
Lath. Vaill. loc. cit., pl. xxv. 
