282 
CORACIAS INDICA. 
Head dusky bluish green, brightening above and behind the eye to turquoise-blue; above the nostril the forehead is 
greyish yellow, with a tinge of violet in some ; lower hind neck, interscapular region, and scapulars dull brownish 
green, separated from the blue of the nape by a vinous collar ; lower back cerulean blue ; upper tail-coverts, base 
and terminal portion of all but centre rectrices, least wing-coverts, greater part of primaries, and terminal half of 
secondaries deep violet-blue, with a brilliant cobalt lustre close to the shafts and at the edge of the wing-coverts , 
central rectrices dusky green, with a blue wash at base ; a broad band across the remaining rectrices, another 
across the six outer primaries, primary-coverts, and bases of secondaries pale cerulean blue. 
Lores tawny brown ; beneath the eye and the ear-coverts vinous-brown, with whitish mesial streaks ; throat and chest 
pale greyish vinous, the feathers with mesial buff lines, and broadly margined on the fore neck and upper part of 
chest with purple-violet ; beneath, from the chest, with the under wing, pale greenish blue. 
Young. Iris brown, the grey outer portion in the adult reduced to a narrow ring ; this latter increases with age very 
gradually, imparting considerable variation to the eye ; bill blackish brown, pale or reddish at the base beneath , 
tarsus slightly tinted with olivaceous ; gape yellowish. 
Head and back duskier than in the adult ; forehead with more of the pale colour ; band across hind neck fawn ; 
lesser wing-coverts (in the nestling) almost concolorous with the back ; chin and throat paler than in the adult, 
the purplish lilac on the latter faint. 
Obs. Ceylonese examples average, I think, smaller than Indian. Two of the latter from Ivamptee measure 7'1 inches 
in the wing ; another 7 ’4 — the former being the maximum limit (according to my experience) of the insular bird. 
The lilac tints show considerable variation in continental as well as in Ceylonese specimens, the depth of tint 
depending on age. 
Distribution. — The Roller has a peculiarly local distribution in Ceylon, dwelling in the dry portions of 
the island, and migrating to the damp district of the west chiefly during the dry season (N.E monsoon). Its 
head-quarters may be said to be the Jaffna peninsula, the open portions of the northern sea-board, and 
certain parts of the interior of the Northern and N.W. Provinces. In these districts it is common in many 
places and absent from others. Neither Mr. Holdsworth nor myself observed it in the Aripu district, hut on 
the adjacent island of Manaar it occurs. To the south of the jungles bordering the coast of the Hay of 
Kalpentyn it is not uncommon. I have seen it in the Kalpentyn peninsula itself, and about Puttalam and 
Chilaw it is a well-known bird. It is a resident as far south as Madampe, and likewise in the region between 
that and Kurunegala ; hut below this line it occurs chiefly as a straggler between the months of October and 
March. In this season it may often be seen about Veangodde and Ambepussa, and I have procured it in the 
Ilewagam Korale, a little to the south of Colombo, in July. I doubt, however, if it resides in that district. 
I have never seen or heard of it to the south of the Kaluganga, nor did I meet with it in the very likely 
country between Haputale and Hambantota. It may occur in the Eastern Province, but I have no infor- 
mation to that effect. In the Trincomalie district it is now and then seen from December to February ; hut 
a little inland, about Ratmalie, it is common enough. Eastward of this point, through the centre of the 
island, it musters, as above remarked, strongly, confining itself, of course, to open districts, fields surrounded 
by the village tanks, and dried-up paddy-land. Even here, however, it is local ; for although it is common 
near Hurulle, I have never seen it about Haborenna, which is separated from the former place by a tract 
of forest. 
It has been found now and then in the valley of Dumbara, but I do not know that it occurs elsewdiere 
in the Kandyan country. 
On the mainland this species is found throughout nearly all India, from the extreme south to the 
Himalayas ; it does not extend into Burmah, being there replaced by the closely-allied race C. affinis. The 
two forms blend into one another in such a gradual manner that it is difficult to say where indica ends and 
affinis begins. Mr. Hume remarks of Mr. Inglis’s specimens from N.E. Cachar, that “ they are not very 
typical, hut that they are nearer to typical affinis than to indica.’' Its range is not by any means so limited 
towards the north-west ; for in that direction it extends through Persia to Asia Minor, mingling thus with its 
European ally C. garrula. Mr. Danford ohserved it in Asia Minor at the base of the Aladagh mountains ; 
and Messrs. Sclater and Taylor have seen a specimen in the Museum of the American College at Constantinople 
which was shot on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus. 
