Family CORACIID-^. 



THE ROLLER. 



Coracias garrulus, Linnaeus. 

 Plate 24. 



Since Sir Thomas Browne recorded the occurrence of this gaily-painted species 

 in Norfolk, now more than two hundred and fifty years ago, a large number have 

 reached our shores, over a hundred having been noticed, mostly in the southern 

 and eastern counties of England, while it has also visited the Orkneys and St. 

 Kilda, though owing to its brilliant plumage few of these visitants have escaped 

 destruction. 



During summer it is found over a great part of Europe, being plentiful in 

 the Mediterranean countries, and in North-west Africa. It also visits western 

 Siberia, and winters in South Africa and India. 



The Roller generally selects for its nest a hole in a tree, or in some bank or 

 cliff, but a cavity in a ruined wall is also sometimes chosen. A light fabric is put 

 together of twigs and dead grasses, in which it lays from four to six shining white 

 eggs, globular in shape. 



It feeds chiefly on grasshoppers, beetles, and other insects captured on the 

 ground, and, according to Lord Lilford, it occasionally takes frogs and small 

 reptiles. 



Its notes are harsh and discordant, and it is by nature a shy and wary bird, 

 constantly flitting from branch to branch or swooping to the ground to capture 

 its prey, and haunting more or less open country. 



At times, especially during the breeding season, it performs somersaults and 

 other curious gymnastic antics in the air, hence its name of " Roller." 



It usually selects a dead bough or some isolated tree-top as a look-out station, 

 from which it sallies after food. 



There is no difference between the male and female in colour, but the immature 

 birds are duller. 



27 



