THE



Hvicultural /nbagasine,


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICULTURAL SOCIETY.



VOL. IV. — No. 43. All rights reserved. MAY, 1898.


THE ROLLER AND ITS FOOD.


By Reginai^d PhiIvLipps.

f Co7iHn7ced fj'om page lo'jj.


I^et us now turn more particularly to the food of the

Roller in captivity. As a rule, this unsightly creature, before it

reaches our hands, has been fed chiefly or entirely on raw meat ;

and, as the Roller is often slow to take to strange food, the raw

meat should be withdrawn, or the supply lessened, gradually

and watchfully ; for it will go a long while without food if not

pleased with what is supplied ; but I do not believe in the

wisdom of tr3nng a bird with long fasts, as some bird-owners

almost boast of doing. As far as possible, as suggested by Mr.

Russell Humphrys, feed the Roller on insedts, especially grass-

hoppers, cockchafers and the Coleoptera generally, with a few

worms — and baby frogs when obtainable ; cockroaches, too, are

valuable, but I do not care about gentles. I cannot obtain inse(5ts

nor breed cockroaches, so have to fall back upon mealworms.

Nevertheless, wherever you are, insects will fail sometimes, and

the Roller cannot be fed solely on mealworms, so something else

must be found. My experience with the Hoopoe, so unlike and

yet so like to the Roller, has taught me that the first thing to be

done with a Roller is to get it on to sop — milk-biscuit sop is what

I actually provide. This supplies moisture ; the bird takes to it

readil}^, and seldom tires of it. With the ordinary insedlivorous

food I mix scraped meat (cooked and raw), and a little prepared

yolk of egg. The yolk of a fresh egg I give occasionally as a

treat, but this I do not mix up with the other food. Dry crumbled

biscuit they always have, and it is usually taken pretty freel}^

They also have access to, and irregularly partake of, bits of

grapes, dates, figs, and occasionally sultana raisins. Sometimes

I notice them feeding complacently out of the seed saucers

supplied for the Parrakeets, but do not know what the particular

attraction may be.



