COMMON ROLLER. 



331 



when fully adult ; but females of the second year are duller in colour. 

 Males, and especially females, of the year have the whole of the plumage 

 more or less suflFused with hrown, which is still more the case in young in 

 first plumage, almost entirely obscuring the chestnut and brown. 



The Roller often shows a tendency to an elongation of the outside 

 feather on each side of the tail, a feature which seems to be permanently 

 developed to a remarkable extent in a very nearly allied species, C. ahys- 

 sinica, which does not otherwise materially differ. An example of a male 

 of this species was presented to the Paisley Museum by Mr. Small (the 

 father of the well-known bird-stuffer in Edinburgh) , who stated that it was 

 shot near Glasgow about the year 1857, and brought to him in the flesh. 

 He also stated that the female was obtained, a short time afterwards, about 

 forty miles from the locality where the male was shot. It is a resident 

 throughout Africa south of the Desert and in Southern Arabia. It has 

 never been known to occur in any part of continental Europe ; and it 

 is difficult to avoid coming to the conclusion that the bird in the Paisley 

 Museum had escaped from confinement. 



