The Roller. 



39 



ence to hopping from branch to branch, a trick wliich he appears to ascribe to its 

 very short legs and weak feet, but it must be remembered that this is a habit 

 also of the Jackdaw, which I have repeatedly noticed doing the same thing, 

 certainly from no lack of vigour in its legs or feet. 



Every observer of this bird in a wild state has called attention to the 

 peculiarity in its flight from which it lias received its name of " Roller"— a sudden 

 turning over in the air after the manner of a Tumbler Pigeon. Many birds drop 

 suddenly when at a great height, notably Swallows and vSwifts, but very few appear 

 to roll over in the air, yet it must be a pleasurable sensation. 



When on migration the Roller appears to be gregarious. Canon Tristran 

 having observed large flocks of them in Palestine on the 12th of April. 



It is difficult to understand why this magniiicently coloured bird has not 

 become a favoi:rite with aviculturists. Being a common breeding species in North 

 Germany it should not be difficult to obtain. Dr. Russ does not mention the 

 genus Coracias in his " Handbook," yet there is no doubt that it has been kept 

 in Germany. 



The Roller should be no more difficult to feed in confinement than a Shrike 

 and, although Naumann states that caged birds when fed on any vegetable matter 

 die from its effects, one ought to be able to keep them alive with raw meat, cock- 

 roaches, frogs, newts, and perhaps mice. It is indeed related respecting one of 

 the Norfolk examples of C. s^arrulus that it "was brought into Yarmouth b}' some 

 sailors, having alighted on the rigging of their vessel just off the harbour; j-et 

 though taken alive it soon died " : but as the poor thing onh- had a minute 

 fragment of a beetle's leg in its stomach and was in ver\- poor condition, it would 

 have been more surprising had it survived. 



A pair of the Abyssinian Roller fC^ leiccocephahisj stated by the late Dr. Bree 

 to have been shot near Glasgow about 1857, had probabl}- stra3-ed from some 

 Zoological Gardens : for as this species has never been known to occur in anj' 

 part of continental Europe, it is tolerably certain that it could not have wandered 

 to the British Isles. Of course many other species which do occur on the 

 Continent, may have similarly escaped from captivit}-. 



