THE EASTERN ROLLER 
Eurystomus orietttalis (Linn,) 
Malay name: — ^Tiong^ batu. 
Description : — This is a largish bird of about pigeon-size 
and jay-like appearance. The beak is broad and short and 
the ft;et small. The appearance is that of a blnish-green bird 
relieved by brig:ht blue patches. The head is blackish above 
with an oily green sheen and this on the upper parts passes 
into dark dull green on the back and rump. The tail is black 
washed with biue. The chin and throat are bright blue and 
the remainder of the underi>arts are greenish-blue. The wings 
are bluish-green hut the wing quills are black with a pale 
sea-green patcli which is very conspicuous in flight. 
The iris h tlark brown bnt a pleasing touch of colour is 
provided by the biJl, legs and feet which are brigtit red. 
Length about 12 inches; wang 7 J inches. 
Some naturalists declare that there are two forms or 
sub-species of this bird. They say that £, c?. orientaiis is a 
resident bird with us and can be distinguished on account of 
the larger amount of blue on the tail and other minor charac- 
ters, while E, 0. calonyx with a blacker tail only visits us in 
the winter nnonths* The evidence available in the RafHes 
Museum tends to bear out this distinction, for the Museum 
series is clearly divisible into two sets of birds and of these 
the birds answering best to the description of the supposed 
cci/oHVA- were obtained in the winter months only, whereas 
some of those which we regard as orientaiis were obtained in 
January, February, March » June, July, September, October 
and November, 
Distribution : — It is "difficult to define the range of this 
bird on account of difficulties already explained in dealing with 
certain other species. If we accept caionyx as a species its 
range may be said to extend from China and then southwards 
to the Malay Peninsula and Borneo, etc., in the winter; 
E. oriental^ on the other hand being the resident form in India, 
