395 



CRIMSON ROLLER. 



Coracias militaris. C. phasniceaf remigibus caudaque nigris. 



Crimson Roller, with black wings and tail. 



Goracias militaris. Crimson Roller. Museum Leverianum. 



No, 2. pi. 3. 

 Le Grand Cotinga. LevailL ois, Amer. Sf Ind, 



This highly beautiful bird is scarcely inferior in , 

 size to a Crow, and is entirely of the richest and 

 deepest crimson, except on the wings and tail, 

 which are black : the edge of the shoulder is covered 

 b^ a few whitish plumes, and the vent is of similar 

 colour: the feathers on the whole bird, except on 

 the wings and tail, are of a fibrous and silky tex- 

 ture, and on the back pai't of the head are lengthen- 

 ed into a sHght crest: the tail-coverts are also ex- 

 tended to some length over the base of that part, 

 and the hypochondrial or side feathers are of a 

 similar nature: the bill is orange-coloured, the 

 legs short and black. Monsr. Levaillant has given 

 an excellent plate of this bird in his work entitled 

 Histoire Naturelle d'oiseau.v nomeaux et raves de 

 rAmerique et des Indes, Monsr. Levaillant con- 

 siders it as a species of Ampelis, and it is remark- 

 able that I myself, in the short description given 

 in the Museum Leverianum, have observed that it 

 may perhaps with e<|ual propriety be referred to 

 the genus Ampelis as to that of Coracias. Mr. 

 Latham however, in his second supplement, has 

 considered it as a species of Roller. It is a South- * 

 American bird, and i.s a native of Cayenne and 



