428 



ROLLER. 



the sea, and is never found, even in winter, more remote than in the 

 contiguous marshes within the occasional influx of the tide, depending 

 chiefly on marine insects for its subsistence, and has never been ob- 

 served to be gregarious. * I observed them in great numbers on the 

 wild rocky shores of Normandy, and if not quite gregarious, very 

 nearly so.* 



The song, the manner of flying, and its habits in general are so like 

 those of the meadow pipit, that it is probably owing to this circum- 

 stance it had remained so long in obscurity. 



It begins breeding early in the spring. The nest is made of dry 

 grass, marine plants, and very little moss externally, and lined with 

 fine grass, with a few long hairs. This is generally placed on the shelf 

 of a rock near the sea ; sometimes at a considerable height, where 

 there are a few scanty bushes or tufts of grass. It lays four or five 

 eggs, of a dirty white, sprinkled with numerous specks of brown, darker 

 and confluent at the larger end, so as to appear on that part wholly of 

 that colour ; in size they rather exceed those of the meadow pipit, 

 weighing about thirty-six grains. 



RODGE. — A name for the Gadwall. 



ROLLER (Coracias garrula, Linnjeus.) 



*Coracias garrula, I Ann. Syst. L p. 159. 1 — Fauna Suec. No. 94. — Gmel. Syst. I. 



p. 378.— Lath. Ind. Orn. 1. p. 168. 1 Flem. Br. Anim. 88.— Galgulus, 



Briss. 2. p. 64. 1. t. 5. f. 2. — Cornix coerulea Gesneri, Raii, Syn. p. 42. — Will. 



p. 85 Pica marina, Raii, Syn. p. 41. — Will. 89. — Garrulus argentoratorius, 



Raii, Syn. 41. — Will. 89 Le Rollier, Buff. Ois. 3. p. 135. t. 70 lb. PI. 



Enl. 486.— Rollier vulgaire, Temm. Man. d'Orn. 1. p. 127 Blaue Racke, 



Meyer, Tasschenb. l)eut. 1. p. 106. — Frisch, Vog. t. 57. — Roller, Br. Zool. 

 App. t. 2.— Will. (Angl.) 131. t. 20.— Arct. Zool. 2. p. 235.— Lewin's Br. 



Birds, 2. t. 42.— Lath. Syn. 1. p. 406. 1.— Ib. Supp. p. 85 Mont. Orn. Diet. 



—Wale. Syn. 1. t. 41.— Bewick's Br. Birds, 1. t. 85.—Selby, pi. 34. p. 86.* 



This is the only species that has ever been met with in England, and 

 that rarely, probably an accidental wanderer from Germany, where they 

 are not uncommon. 



It is described by Mr. Pennant to be the size of a jay; length twelve 

 inches and a half ; bill black, straight, hooked at the point ; base beset 

 with bristles, but which do not cover the nostrils ; space about the eyes 

 somewhat bare; the head, neck, breast, and belly, are of a light bluish- 

 green; back and scapulars, reddish-brown ; coverts, on the ridge of the 

 wing rich blue ; beneath them pale green ; upper part and tips of the quills 

 dusky ; the lower parts of a fine deep blue ; rump of this last colour ; 

 tail forked, of a light blue; the outer feather striped with black above, 

 and beneath with deep blue, as is the case with such part of the quill- 

 feathers as are black above ; the other tail-feathers are dull gTeen ; legs 

 short, and of a dirty yellow. 



