Descriptive List of the Common Birds 
the day the more vigorously does the bird call. 
(Illus. B. D., p. 246; also B. B., p. 57.) 
115. Coracias indica: The Indian Roller, 
or “ Blue Jay.” (F. 1022), (J. 123), (+I) 
This is a most familiar bird. Its head and 
neck, throat and shoulders, are the colour of a 
faded port-wine stain. Its wings and tail are 
composed of alternate broad bands of light and 
dark blue. These organs are not very much 
en evidence when the bird is perched; but 
flight transforms it; as it flaps heavily along 
it is a study in Oxford and Cambridge blue. 
It is found in most parts of India, but not 
in the island of Bombay. 
It nests at the beginning of the hot weather 
in a hole in a building or a decayed tree. At 
the breeding season it is very noisy, uttering 
strange hoarse cries as it performs weird antics 
in the air, or, sitting on a perch, it every now 
and again utters a loud ¢shock, accompanied 
by a vibration of the tail. 
In Burma this species is replaced by an allied 
one—Coracias affinis—the Burmese Roller. 
(Illus. B. D., p. 112; also B. P., p. 12, and 
B. C. cover.) 
159 
