THE COMMON ROLLER. 



{Coracias garruld). 



THIS beautiful bird is a somewhat rare and 

 occasional visitor to the British Islands, 

 but has been known to occur here upwards of a 

 hundred times. It comes from the south, from 

 Africa, which continent the species traverses on 

 its winter migration, even extending as far south 

 as the Cape Colony. It never appears, however, 

 to migrate to its winter quarters in such large 

 numbers as the Bee-eater, and is by no means so 

 common as the latter bird in Africa. 



The Roller breeds throughout Central and 

 Southern Europe, as far as South Sweden, 

 though it is not known to nest in Norway. As 



