because it is supposed that when a cow gives little milk, if a few of the feathers of this bird are 
chopped up and given along with grass to the cow, the quantity will greatly increase. If it should 
cross a traveller just after starting it is a bad omen.” Dr. Jerdon also states that the present 
species is “ often caught by a contrivance called the Cliou-gaddi. This consists of two thin pieces of 
cane or bamboo, bent down at right angles to each other to form a semicircle, and tied in the 
centre. To the middle of this the bait is tied, usually a mole-cricket, sometimes a small field- 
mouse {Mils le'pidus ); the bait is just allowed tether enough to move about in a small circle. 
The cane is usually smeared with bird-lime, and it is placed on the ground not far from the tree 
w^here the bird is perched. On spying the insect moving about, down swoops the Roller, seizes the 
bait, and on raising its wings to start back one or both are certain to be caught by the viscid 
bird-lime. By means of this very simple contrivance many birds that descend to the ground to 
capture insects are taken, such as the King Crowds {JDicruri), Common Shrikes, some Thrushes, 
Flycatchers, and even the large Kingfisher {Halcyon)'’ 
The Indian Roller breeds in holes in trees or walls or under the eaves of roofs, and deposits 
three or four eggs from January to June. Mr. Cripps says {1. c.) that in Eastern Bengal, where it 
is common and resident, he found on the 3rd March “ four fresh pure white eggs of this species. 
Just at the corner of a ryot’s house stood an old date-tree about 20 feet high, whose top had fallen 
off and the heart of the tree had rotted away for about a foot in depth ; in the hole thus made the 
birds had laid their eggs without forming any lining. I have frequently noticed this bird at the 
hottest time in the day descend to the ground and sit with outstretched wings in the sun, and remain 
so for some time.” 
According to Mr. Hume this Roller “ builds in holes in trees, in old walls, in roofs, or under 
the eaves of bungalows ; they sometimes make a good deal of a nest of feathers, grass, &c., especially 
where the site they choose is not well closed in, but where they build in a small-mouthed hole there 
is usually a very scanty lining. I have found a nest in a large niche in an old wall, in which the 
birds had contracted the entrance with masses of tow, vegetable fibre, and old rags, but this is quite 
exceptional; and again I have taken the eggs from a hole in a siris-tree, in wRich there was not the 
smallest lining beyond a few fragments of decayed wood. I have never found more than five eggs 
in any nest, and four I take to be the normal number.” 
Mr. F. R. Blewitt says: “ I do not know exactly how long they continue breeding, but I have 
found the eggs in May, June, and a part of July. The nest is built in holes of trees and old walls 
of buildings; occasionally the Roller even breeds in the roofs of houses (as witnessed by me at 
Sultanpore). I have personally searched but two nests: the one, in a hole of a tree, had a very 
peculiar grain-like substance of a deep chocolate-colour, on which the eggs were deposited. The 
other, in a hole in an old wall, had some coarse and fine grass wdth feathers of various sorts for the 
eggs to rest on. The regular number of eggs is four. In colour they are white, without any trace 
of spots, and their average length is I’3 inch, breadth IT inch. In shape they are oval.” 
Mr. R. M. Adam remarks that in the neighbourhood of the Sambhur Lake this species is “ very 
common. I have taken its eggs during March, April, and May. On the 24th April I saw a pair 
making love near the Sambhur Fort, and on the 1st May I obtained the eggs of the same birds from a 
cavity in a neem-tree ; one of the eggs was a little set. Breeds in Oudh during April. On the 19th 
April I had five eggs brought from one nest.” Mr. Rhodes W. Morgan, to whom I am indebted for a 
large series of the eggs of this Roller, states that in Southern India it “ breeds in March, nesting in 
holes of trees. The tamarind and banyan are generally chosen for this purpose. The eggs are usually 
two in number and of a pure and glossy white. There is no nest. In size the eggs average 1*39 inch in 
