30 NOTES ON CERTAIN BIRDS FOUND IN NORFOLK. 



[The account of the Roller, which is written on smaller 

 paper, will be found improperly inserted among the 

 Fishes, between pp. 30 and 32 as follows : — ] 



[Fol. 31.] On the xiiii of May 1664 a very rare bird 

 was sent mee kild about crostwick wch seemed to bee 

 some kind of Jay.^" the bill was black strong and 

 bigger then a Jayes somewhat yellowe clawes tippd 

 black. 3 before and one clawe behind the whole bird 

 not so bigge as a Jaye [the crossed ou(.] 



The head neck & throat of a violet colour the back 

 upper parts of the wing of a russet yellowe the fore 

 & part of the wing azure succeeded downward by a 

 greenish blewe then on the flying feathers bright blewe 

 the lower parts of the wing outwardly of a browne 

 [the crossed out] inwardly of a merry blewe the belly a 

 light faynt blewe the back toward the tayle of a purple 

 blewe the tayle eleuen fethers of a greenish coulour the 

 extremities of the outward fethers thereof white wth an 

 eye* of greene. Garrulus Argentoratensis [ike name 

 added in a different ink and pen]. 



* Tinge, shade, particularly a slight tint. — "Imp. Diet." 



^ This note is interesting as the first record of the occurrence of the 

 Roller in Britain, to which country it is a rare wanderer. Although it had 

 long been known on the Continent, its identity seems to have puzzled 

 Browne, and he imagines (as did others, both before and after him,) it to be 

 some kind of Jay ; later, in his second letter to Merrett (January, 1668), 

 he says that it answers to the description of Garrulus argentoratensis 

 (the name given by Aldrovandus to whom it was known), and calls it " the 

 Parrot-jay." This is five years after the original note was made, and 

 we find that the words Garrulus argentoratensis, written by the same 

 hand but with a different pen and ink, have been added subsequently, 

 doubtless as the result of further information. In another letter 

 he mentions having sent the bird to Merrett, but adds, " If you have 

 it before I should bee content to have it againe otherwise you may please 

 keep it." 



