THE BLUE JAY 
E is not a jay at all; but the misnomer is 
perhaps a pardonable one, for in more 
respects than one the bird resembles the 
true jays, and I am told that the European 
roller (Coracias garrula), a near relative of the Indian 
blue jay, is known in parts of Germany as the Birch 
Jay. American visitors to India, however, make no 
such mistake. You never hear one of them call the 
roller a jay. They dub him the Surprise Bird, a name 
which admirably suits both him and the paddy bird, for 
when either takes to its wings a startling transformation 
occurs. The dingy heron is suddenly metamorphosed 
into a beautiful milk-white bird, while the untidy 
nondescript-coloured roller is transfigured into a gor- 
geous harmony of light and dark blue, into a bird 
flying the Oxford and Cambridge colours, putting 
one in mind of Putney on Boat-race Day. 
Beauty is often a curse to its possessor ; it certainly 
is in the case of the Indian roller. This bird has a wide 
distribution. It is, or should be, found all over India; 
but, alas! itis not. It isa significant fact that the bird 
is not common in the Presidency towns, 
“Eha” does not even mention the roller in “The 
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