THE ROLLER OR DOLLAR-BIRD 233 



Genus Eurystomus. 

 Tarsus less than half length of middle toe. Bill short, 

 depressed, slightly hooked, as broad at base as it is long. Habits 

 arboreal. Tropical Africa, South-east Asia to Australia. 



The Roller or Dollar-bird. 



Eurystomus pacificus (australis). 



Australia, except Sovith and West, Lord Howe Island, New Zealand, 

 Moluccas to Celebes. 



Head and neck sooty brown; mantle and back brownish washed with 

 green; bastard wing and parts of true wing light blue; tail green at base 

 black at tip, under parts green; bill and feet red; inside of mouth yellow; 

 iris dark brown. Total length 10.5 inches, culmen 1.1, wing 7.8.5, tail 3.6, 

 tarsus .6. 



The Dollar-bird gets this name from the silvery-white spot in 

 the centre of each wing. This is seen very distinctly during 

 flight. Like so many birds it feeds chiefly in the early morning 

 and again near sunset. In sultry weather it perches motionless 

 on some dead branch. It is a very bold bird at all times, but 

 particularly so in the breeding season, when it attacks with the 

 utmost fury any intruder that may venture to approach the 

 hole in the tree in which its eggs are deposited. It plays the 

 game with anyone seeking to find the nest. It will dart into any 

 hole around, except the true one, leading you to believe that you 

 have located the nest for a certainty. When you have laboriously 

 gained the spot, out flies the Dollar-bird, and you find nothing, 

 but can watch the bird fly fifty yards off to another hole, to 

 which you make your way, only to be again bamboozled. The 

 flight is unlike that of any other bird. It does not fly straight, 

 but dives down and rises again with many turns, as if delighting 

 in the easy control of difficult wing movements. It is a very 

 noisy bird, uttering a peculiar chattering note. The eggs, three 

 or four, are laid without a nest in a hole in a tree, and are pearly 

 white, pointed at the smaller end; dimensions 1.4 x 1.17 inch. 



Suh-order Halcyones. 

 Spinal feather tract well defined on neck and not forked on 

 the back; vertical feather tract split in the centre, and also on 

 each side of the breast by bare tracts. Oil-gland tufted. No 



