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iinderparts white, banded with chestnut and to some extent with blackish : centre of the abdomen 
and under tail-coverts creamy white; under wing-coverts white, mottled with brown : bill blackish 
horn; legs rosy grey; iris brown. Total length about 12 inches, culmen 1‘55, wing 5'9, tail 4‘6, 
tarsus 1‘4. 
Adult female (Madagascar).—Similar to the male. 
Nestling (Madagascar).—Upper parts browner than in the adult, without any trace of the rich 
blue on the head; feathers on the crown with minute white terminal dots; underparts dull rufous 
buff, darker on the throat, whiter in an indistinct band across the breast, and becoming nearly white 
on the lower abdomen and under tail-coverts ; most of the feathers darker at the tip, giving the 
underparts the appearance of having blurred cross-bars ; tail and wings as in the adult, but much 
duller, the former very short and the latter without any trace of blue. 
First obtained in Madagascar by Dr. Ackerman, a surgeon in the French Navy, and described by 
Lesson in 1832 from a specimen in the Fivoli collection, this Roller is still a rare bird in collections. 
Sir E. Newton in 1863 cites a specimen as having been obtained by Capt. Anson near Ampasimbe on 
his return from Antananarivo; and according to Grandidier it inhabits the forests on the eastern 
side of Madagascar, especially those in the north-east of that island, but it is a rare bird. 
With regard to its habits I find nothing on record beyond what is given {1. c.) by Grandidier, 
who says that it frequents humid, out-of-the-way places in forests, where it may be met with in the 
morning or evening either singly or, during the breeding-season, in pairs. It is usually to be found 
on the ground, where it scratches, like the gallinaceous birds, amongst the moss and dead leaves in 
search of its food, which consists of insects, ants, larvae, caterpillars, &c., and also of small reptiles. 
Occasionally this species perches on the low branches of shrubs, but is seldom seen on the wing, and 
its flight is heavy and spasmodic. 
Nothing appears to be on record respecting its nidification, but I am indebted to the Rev. J. 
Wills for the following note:—“A native assures me that he has seen the nest of this bird. It was, 
he says, in a shallow hole in a tree-trunk, about a man’s height from the ground, and the bird sat 
with its neck and head outside the hole. Two of my native friends who have shot B. leptosomus say 
that it was on the ground when they first saw it, and it then flew up into a tree and hid behind the 
branches, so that it was most difficult to get a sight of it, and they added that it will remain until the 
branch is shaken. I gather that both this species and B. sguamiger are supposed to hibernate, for, 
when I was in the East Forest in August last, I enquired of the natives about these two large Rollers, 
and the reply was that ‘ they had not yet come out of their holes.’ ” 
The adult male figured and described is in my own collection, and the descriptions of the adult 
female and nestling are taken from specimens in the collection of Messrs. A. & E. Newton. 
In the preparation of the above article I have examined, besides the series in the British Museum, 
the following specimens :— 
B Mus. H. E. Dresser. 
a, ^ ad.; b, ad. Madagascar {WMtely). 
E Mus. A. & E. Newton. 
a, ^ ad. Madagascar, b, ? ad. Madagascar, J^eptember 1861 [Capt. Anson), c, pull. Madagascar . 
E Mus. W. Bothschild. 
a, b) c, ad. Madagascar [Boucard). 
