ROLLERS. 
79 
water and in the wooded districts. It feeds on beetles and other insects, but 
also catches tish, which it seems to prefer. 
Long-Tailed In the genus Tanysiptera the number of tail-feathers is reduced 
Kingfishers. t , 0 ten, of which the central ones are greatly elongated, and exceed 
the body in length, generally ending in a racket-like expansion. Twenty species 
are known, all of which are inhabitants only of the Moluccas, the Papuan Islands, 
and the Cape York Peninsula in Northern Australia. Mr. Wallace, who discovered 
several of the species during his travels in the Malay Archipelago, tells us that }ie 
found them in forests and also in rocks by the side of streams. Macgillivray, who 
found the beautiful Tanysiptera sylvia in North-Eastern Australia, states that it 
frequented the dense bushes and the sunny glades in the woods. The flight is 
rapid, and it darts away among the dense foliage like an arrow. It is very wary, 
and sits on the bare branch of a tree, keeping a good lookout, and darting on to 
some passing insect, and then returning to the same perch. Its cry resembles the 
words wheet, wheet, wheet , and it is said to tunnel into the ant-hills of red clay, 
which are common in that part of Australia. 
The Rollers. 
Family CORACIIDJE. 
Birds of brilliant coloration, inhabiting most parts of the Old World, in the 
shape of the body, as well as in the conformation of the beak, the rollers strikingly 
resemble the crows. The palate is, however, of the bridged type, and the feet are 
like those of the kingfishers, both in respect of the flat sole and the union of the 
toes; while there are twelve tail-feathers. The five genera are arranged under 
two subfamilies. The first subfamily ( Brachypteraciince ) is represented by three 
genera confined to Madagascar, and characterised by the length of the metatarsus, 
and their terrestrial habits. Of the typical genus, as well as of Geobiastes, little 
has been related, but of Atelornis Grandidier states that both species live alone on 
the ground in the forests; the flight being straight and the birds only perching on 
the lower branches. Sir Edward Newton says that he only observed these birds 
in the dusk of the evening near the ground, and remarks that they have a curious 
way of jerking the tail when alighting on a branch. 
In the true rollers the metatarsus is considerably shortened, and 
the habits of all the species are arboreal. In addition to the true 
rollers, the second subfamily also includes the broad-billed rollers ( Eurystomus). 
In the common roller ( Coracias garrula) and its allies the bill is long and com¬ 
pressed, being much longer than it is broad at the base; while the members of the 
genus are of brilliant plumage, and are found all over Africa, Southern Asia 
and Malaysia, as far as the island of Celebes. The common roller is drab-brown 
above, the rump greenish blue washed with purple; the wing-coverts blue, the 
lesser ones purple; the head green with a bluish eyebrow; the base of the- 
forehead sandy buff; the under surface of the body blue ; the breast lilac-brown ; 
the sides of the neck and hind-neck purplish lilac; and the wings and tail purplish 
blue, with a band of silvery cobalt; the total length being 12 inches. Writing 
True Rollers. 
