ROLLERS. 
81 
air, uttering quickly the following rdh-rardh-rrdh-rrd, etc. etc., which he always 
changes to the rack as soon as ever he begins to turn his somersault, and then 
returns to his seat on a dead branch. This appears to represent his song. The 
bird chooses a sandy country as its breeding-home, and affects thin woods where 
old oaks are scattered through, and which are adjacent to open fields and near 
large forests, particularly of pines, making its nest in hollow oak, ash, or other 
trees, and lining the interior with roots, straw, feathers, and hair. The male and 
ORIENTAL ROLLER (I liat. size). 
female incubate in turn for the space of not quite three weeks, and when breeding 
they sit so close that, though at other times very shy, they may be caught on 
the nest.” 
Broad-Billed These rollers inhabit Africa, Madagascar, India, and China, 
Roners. ranging north to Eastern Siberia and south to the Malay Archipelago 
and Australia. They have the bill as broad as it is long at the gape. The oriental 
roller (Eurystomus orientalis ) has the tail black with a bluish base; the head 
blackish as well as the mantle; the back green, and the under surface blue, with 
VOL. iv.—6 
