THE GREEN TODY 



ll'l 



diversified with a white bar. The tail is deep Mark. In its habits it is quick, active, and 

 vigorous, chasing its insect prey through the air, and displaying great command of wing 

 and powers of endurance. 



Although tolerably common on several parts of the Continent, the Garrulous Roller 

 is at the present time a very rare visitant to this country. There seems, however, to be reason 



GARRULOUS ROLLER.— Coracias garrula. 



to believe that informer days, when Europe was less cultivated and more covered with path- 

 less woods, the Roller was frequently seen in the ancient forests, and that it probably built its 

 nest in the hollows of trees, as it does in the German forests at the present day. 



There are many examples of the group which is gathered together under the general title 

 of Rollers, the last of which is the Brachypteracias, a bird which is remarkable, as its name 

 imports, for the shortness of its wings. 



In color it is rather a handsome bird, although it suffers somewhat from the proximity of 

 its more brilliant relatives. The upper parts are a warm chestnut-brown, with a green gloss 

 upon the shoulder. The wings are brown also, glossed with sheeny green, and marked with 

 a number of black spots edged with white. The under parts are grayish-white splashed on 

 the throat with chestnut, and transversely barred upon the abdomen with the same tint, 

 leaving a white band across the chest. It is a native of Madagascar. 



The curious little birds which are termed Todies bear a considerable resemblance to the 

 kingfisher, from which they may be easily distinguished by the flattened bill. The gape of 

 the mouth is very wide, and a number of vibrissse are set around its margin. The wings and 

 tail are short and rounded, and the outer toes are connected as far as the last joint. The 

 Todies are natives of tropical America, and are very conspicuous among the brilliant plumaged 

 and strangely shaped birds of that part of the world. 



The Green Tody is a very small bird, being hardly larger than the common wren, but yet 

 very conspicuous on account of the brilliant lines with which its plumage is decorated. The 



Vol. II.— 16. 



