CORACIAS GARRULA, Linn. 
Roller. 
Coracias garriila, Linn. Faun. Suec., p. 32. 
Galgulus, Briss. Orn., tom. ii. p. 64, pi. v. fig. 2. 
garrulus, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. d’Hist. Nat., torn. xxix. p. 428, 
Coracias germanicus, Brehra, Vog. Deutschl., tom. i. p. 158. 
planiceps, Bi’ehm, ibid., p. 159. 
garrulus, Cab. Mus. Hein., Theil ii. p. 117. 
Although the avifauna of the British Islands is generally destitute of the gorgeous hues which distinguish the 
birds of the tropics, still some three or four species conspicuous for the heauty of their plumage either reside 
with or pay us occasional visits. The Roller is one of them ; and hut few of the birds of the torrid zone are 
more gaily attired, or more striking in appearance. That the clear blue skies and the pare atmosphere of 
the European continent are more in harmony with the tints which adorn this bird than the humid, uncertain, 
and foggy climate of our islands cannot be denied ; and it is in the countries across the Straits that it is 
most frequently found ; still we have been, and probably ever shall be, favoured with its occasional visits, 
the recorded instances of which, from the Land’s End to the northernmost part of Scotland, are already very 
numerous. Nor has Ireland been unvisited by this fine bird ; for Thompson informs us that the late “ Mr. R. 
Ball, when Avalking through the demesne at Carton, the seat of the Duke of Leinster, in the middle of Sep- 
tember 1831, had his attention attracted by a bird pursued by a great number of Rooks, which, instead of 
flying off to avoid, continued for a considerable time to dash into the midst of them, apparently for the sake 
only of annoyance. From the size, brilliant plumage, and singular flight of this bird, my friend was satisfied 
that it was a Roller.” Thompson was told of another being shot in the county of Sligo, and a third in the 
south of Ireland ; but adds, “ as yet no example of the bird unquestionably killed in this island has to my 
knowledge come under the inspection of the naturalist.” In Mr. Rodd’s ‘List of Cornish Birds ’ it is stated 
that a specimen had been seen near the Land’s End, and that a female shot at St. Levan is in his own 
collection. I might continue to cite instances of its capture from this end of England to the Orkneys, were 
it worth while to do so ; but such notices may he found in many, if not all, the works treating on our native 
birds, from Bewick to Macgillivray. As recently as the months of May and June 1865 I received three notes 
giving me accounts of its appearance, one in Devonshire, another in Essex, and a third in Dumfriesshire. 
The first, Mr. Gatcombe states, was killed by a farmer’s hoy on Spriddlescombe Farm, near Plymouth, the 
property of J. H. Eccles, Esq. ; on dissection this proved to he a male, and its stomach contained the remains 
of beetles and the skins of several long whitish grubs or caterpillars ; a female was seen in its company, hut 
was not obtained. The Essex bird, Mr. Travis of Saffron lYalden informed me, was shot on the 17th of 
May, by the gamekeeper of G. Sanders, Esq., of Little Chesterford Park ; this was a male bird, and just 
before it was shot had been sucking an egg. The bird observed in Dumfriesshire, I learn by a note from 
Sir William Jardine, was seen during the previous November by the keeper of Mr. Yonstoun, of Torther- 
wold, flying about a thorny hedge ; it could not be approached within shooting-distance ; hut its remains were 
afterwards found, and the wings and tail sent to Sir William. This poor straggler from a foreign land was 
evidently bewildered, and should have been in a more southern climate at that period ; for be it known that 
the bird is strictly migratory in all parts of Europe, and is only found there in summer, as in autumn it 
crosses the Mediterranean for the more congenial climate of Africa, where insect food is abundant, and a 
genial sun reigns, under which it may preen its beautiful feathers. 
Mr. Stevenson, after enumerating the numerous instances of the occurrence of the Roller in his county, 
remarks : — “ The earliest record, however, is contained in the following remarkable note by Sir Thomas 
Browne, made just two hundred years ago; — ‘On the 14th of May, 1664, a very rare bird was sent me, 
killed at Crostwich, which seemed to be some kind of Jay.’ After giving a description which proves that 
the bird was a Roller, Sir T. Browne assigns to it the name of Garrulus Argentoratensis.” 
During the summer months the Roller is found in many parts of Spain, Italy, Germany, and Turkey, to 
the eastward of which country it proceeds as far as Affghanistan and Cashmere ; but I have not yet seen 
specimens from India proper, though Mr. Jerdon states that it is now and then found in its north-western 
provinces. 
“ About the wooded hills that skirt the elevated plains of the Eastern Atlas,” says Mr. Salvin, “ the Roller 
may not unfrequently he met with. In these districts it breeds in the month of May, choosing for the 
position of its nest a hollow in a tree, and usually prefen-ing one that has a side entrance. In this the eggs 
