72 ROLLER. 



Strasburg Jay, but for what reason it is not easy to say, since it is 

 very scarce there. Aclanson says, * they come to reside for some 

 months of the summer in the south parts of Europe, going back to 

 spend the remainder of the year at Senegal, where they are sometimes 

 seen in flocks, with the Cardinal Sparrows. In its passage from 

 Barbary to Europe, it frequently rests for some time at Gibraltar, 

 though not in great numbers ; and in respect to England, it is very 

 rarely seen, not more than two or three ever having been met with.f 

 On the Continent is often found in tilled grounds, with Rooks, and 

 other birds, searching for worms, small seeds, and roots, J and will 

 sometimes make the nest in holes in the ground ; the nest said to be 

 filthy, from the young evacuating themselves therein, whence it has 

 by some been said to make the nest of excrements. This, perhaps, 

 is the Shagarag of Shaw,§ which he met with in Barbary ; about 

 the size of a Jay ; body brown ; head, neck, and belly, light green ; 

 wings and tail spotted with blue; and is probably the bird which 

 Russel found at Aleppo. || 



2.— BENGAL ROLLER. 



Coracias Bengalensis, Ind.Orn.'v. 168. Lin. Syst. \^ 159. Gm.Lin.\. 380. Bor. 



Nat ii. Ilk Daud. ii. 259. Nat. Misc. t. 273; Shaw's Zool. vii. 390. 

 Galgulas Mindanoensis, Bris. ii. 69. t. 6. f. 1. Id. Svo. i. 174. 

 Rollier de Mindanao, Cuit, Buf. iii. 144. PI. enl. 285. 

 Jay from Bengal, Alb. i. pi. 17 

 Bengal Roller, Gen. Syn. i. 410. 



LENGTH twelve inches and a half. Bill blackish; top of the 

 head green, verging to blue near the eyes; hindpart of the neck 



* Adans. Voy. f Br. Zool. Once killed in Sussex. — Lin. Trans, p. 14. 



J Also beetles and frogs. —Faun. Suec. § Trav. p. 251. 



|| A kind of Jay, beautifully variegated with blue, green, and a sort of brown. — Russel. 

 Alep. p. 70. 



