282 ROLLER. 
Palestine, Persia, and temperate Asia as far to the north-east as 
Omsk in Siberia; while southward, it is found in Kashmir and 
North-western India, where it meets with the closely allied C. zndzcus, 
the breast of which is vinous-purple instead of blue. In the north 
of Africa it is common in summer, but even there it does not pass 
the winter; nor does it breed in Egypt, though it traverses that 
country on its way to and from South Africa. During the cold 
season it inhabits the lower half of that continent down to Cape 
Colony and Natal. 
In wooded districts the nesting-place selected is some hollow in a 
tree, but quite as often it is in the wall of a ruined fortress or in 
a high bank; in these a bedding of roots, grass, feathers and hair 
is accumulated, but when in trees, the bare wood or a few chips 
suffice. The 5-6 eggs, often globular, but sometimes elongated, are 
glossy white : measurements 1°4 by 1°1 in. Incubation lasts nearly 
three weeks, commencing early or late in May, according to the 
country. During the breeding-season the male indulges in some 
extraordinary tumbling antics, turning somersaults in the air, and 
uttering a harsh cry which the Germans syllable as racker-racker 
and the Spaniards as carlanco-carlanco ; but at other times the bird 
is merely restless, flying from branch to branch with flapping, 
uncertain flight ; while, like the Bee-eater, it may frequently be seen 
sitting on telegraph-wires. The food consists of beetles and other 
insects captured on the ground. On migration the Roller is 
observed in large flocks. 
The adult has the head and nape greenish-blue , mantle chestnut- 
brown ; upper wing-coverts dark blue; greater wing-coverts and 
bases of primaries light blue, quills black; tail-feathers dark blue 
at the bases and in the middle, and pale blue on the lower portions; 
chin white ; under parts light blue ; bill dark horn-colour ; legs and 
feet yellowish-brown. Length 12 in.; wing 7°7 in. The sexes are 
alike in plumage; the young bird is much more dull and less 
pronounced in colour. 
The late Dr. Bree stated that a male of the Abyssinian Roller was 
killed near Glasgow about 1857, and a female later, some forty 
miles off; the former was preserved by Mr. Small of Edinburgh, 
and is said to be in the Paisley Museum. In October 1883 a bird 
shot near Louth, Lincolnshire, was identified at a taxidermist’s by 
Mr. Cordeaux as our C. garrulus, but in 1890 a specimen, said to be 
the very same bird, proved on examination to be the Indian Roller, 
C. indicus (Ibis 1891, p. 147). 
