338 CLASS AVES. 



migrate from Africa, but they advance pretty far north, for 

 they are found in Sweden, Denmark, and the southern pro- 

 vinces of Russia. It does not appear that in their passage 

 they ever fix or stop in the intermediate temperate climates, 

 for they are quite unknoAvn in many considerable districts of 

 Germany and France. Montbeillard has traced their route 

 from Smaland and Scania into Africa, through Saxony, 

 Franconia, Suabia, Bavaria, the Tyrol, Italy, Sicily, and 

 Malta. 



The rollers, wilder than the jays and pies, remain in the 

 thickest and least frequented woods. Their mode of life, 

 however, is not unlike that of those birds. Like them, and 

 often in their company, they may be seen in the cultivated 

 fields in the neighbourhood of their retreat, seeking the same 

 food. They are said sometimes to attack carrion. In 

 general, however, they are not considered as flesh-eaters. 

 They grow fat in autumn, and are said to be then good 

 eating, which could not be the case if they were feeders on 

 carrion. The voice of the roller is sonorous, and, as its 

 Latin name indicates, it is a garrulous bird, like the jays 

 and pies. 



The RoLLEs differ from the Rollers in the bill, wings, 

 and feet, which has cavised our author to separate them, 

 though in other points the analogy is close between the two 

 subdivisions. We have no certain information respecting 

 their mode of life. It is thought, from. the size of their 

 mouth, by some naturalists, that their principal food is berries 

 and insects, which they swallow on the wing. 



There are few or no birds respecting which such absur- 

 dities have been put forth, as the Birds of Paradise, the 

 very names of which are traceable to the marvellous attri- 

 butes with which they have been endowed. These tales have 

 equally arisen from the wanderings of an unregulated imagi- 

 nation, and from facts which were not understood. A 



