C O R 
lour of the plumage is blue dallied with pale green ; be¬ 
neath rufty ; wings tipped with black. 
11. Coracias cyanea, the ultramarine roller; this bird 
is of a mod beautiful vivid blue ; bill dirty-afh colour ; 
length eight inches. 
12. Coracias Cayennenfis, the Cayenne roller; gene¬ 
ral colour tawny-green; beneath dirty-white; eye-lids 
white; chin with a black ftreak on each fide; tail wedged; 
bill flrong and red, a little curved towards the tip ; legs 
pale grey, and longer than in other fpecies. Inhabits 
Cayenne; nine .inches long. 
13. Coracias Mexicanus, the Mexican roller; this 
fpecies is tawny-grey; beneath, and on the wings, pale 
grey mixed with flame-colour. Inhabits New Spain; 
larger than a thru 111. 
14. Coracias puella, the fairy roller ; the plumage 
principally blue ; neck on the fore-part and lides, bread, 
belly, quill-feathers, and greater wing-coverts, black ; 
bill flrong, and with the legs black ; wings with three 
fmall blue fpots ; tail duflcy-blue. Inhabits India ; fize 
of a blackbird. 
15. Coracias ft; iata, the blue-ftriped roller; the plu¬ 
mage bluifti-black with greenifli-blue ftreaks ; bill, tail, 
and legs, black : female cinereous grey, not (freaked; 
quill-teathers black, edged with cinereous; irids red. 
‘Inhabits New Caledonia ; eight inches long. 
16. Coracias varia, the pied roller; rnoftly black; 
beneath, lower part of the back, rump, and upper tail- 
coverts, white ; tail equal, tipped with white ; bill blu- 
ilh ; two inches and a half long; wing-coverts variegated 
with black and white, the fecondary feme of them black, 
fome white ; two middle tail-feathers quite black; greater 
quill-feathers, and outer edge of the wings, black; legs 
plumbeous; claws flrong, (harp, black. Inhabits New 
Guinea; thirteen inches long ; it is of a doubtful genus, 
between the oriole, coracias, and ramphaftos. 
17. Coracias leutata, the red-breafted roller; fome- 
thing lefs than the common crow ; body uniformly black, 
with a flight bluifli glofs on the back and wings; beak 
flrong, broadifh at the bafe, and flightly notched at the 
tip ; lower mandible palilli towards the tip ; each lide of 
the upper mandible are feven hairs, flattened at the 
lower part and riling in a curved direction; two outer 
tail-feathers fhorter than the reft; legs black; cfaws 
flrong ; that of the back-toe larger than the reft. 
18. Coracias Sinenfis, the Chinefe roller ; the caft of 
the plumage is green ; beneath yellowilh-white ; tail 
wedge-Ihaped, white at the tip ; bill, irids, legs, and 
claws, red ; between the eyes a black itreak; thighs 
grey ; wing-coverts and quill-feathers olive, fome of the 
latter tipped with black. Inhabits China; eleven inches 
and a half long. 
19. Coracias vagabunda, the grey-tailed roller; head 
and neck black; body above rufty-brown, beneath cine¬ 
reous; wings white in the middle ; tail very long, wedoe- 
fhaped; grey, tipped with black ; bill black; legs cine¬ 
reous ; feller wing-coverts rufty-brown; greater and fe¬ 
condary quill-feathers white, the primary "black. Inha¬ 
bits India ; feventeen inches long. 
20. Coracias docilis, the tame roller; plumage white, 
interfperfed with reddilh ; beneath bay ; legs yellow ; 
tail-feathers black tipped with white ; bill yellow ; nine 
firft quill-feathers white as far as the middle, and then 
black, the reft wholly black ; claws flefh-colour, In¬ 
habits fouthern Alia; fize of a blackbird ; is docile and 
imitative. 
21. Coracias militaris, th'e crimfon roller ; body a rich 
vivid crimfon ; bill orange ; head flightly crefted ; fide- 
feathers longer than the reft; legs dufky; long quill- 
feathers and tail black. Inhabits- Cayenne ; is probably 
not of this genus. 
22. Coracias nigra, the black roller; the whole body 
and limbs black; bill flrong; feet black; tail feven 
inches long : length fixteen inches. 
23. Coracias Afra, the African roller; the upper parts 
x 
COR 187 
of the body ferruginous ; beneath lilac ; vent green- 
blue; quill and tail-feathers blue, with blackifh tips; 
body flout; bill yellow ; legs brown. Inhabits Africa ; 
eight inches and a half long. 
24. Coracias melanocephala, the black-headed roller; 
general caft of the plumage purple-blue ; head and neck 
black ; body beneath white ; quill-feathers brown ; tail 
wedge-fliaped; bill and legs red ; nape pale grey • two 
middle tail-feathers blue, the reft purplifh, all tipped with 
white. Inhabits China; fize of a crow. 
25. Coracias ftrepera, the noify roller; body princi¬ 
pally black, with a fpot on the wings; vent, bafe, and 
tip of the tail, black; bill two inches and a half long ; 
ftraightilh, black, toothed, and horn-colour, near the 
tip ; noflrils, naked, long, placed at the bafe of the bill ; 
fix firft quill-feathers white at the bafe, forming the fpot 
on the wings; vent and lower tail-coverts white ; tail 
long, round, the large feathers white at the bafe, the 
lateral ones within tipped with white ; wings, when fold¬ 
ed, reach as far as the middle of the tail; legs black, the 
outer toe connected at the bale to the middle one, which 
very much aflimilates it to the crow. Inhabits Norfolk 
illands in great numbers ; nineteen inches long ; is fool- 
ifh, and very noify by night. 
CO'RACLE, J'. [ czurwgle , Welch, probably from ce¬ 
rium, Lat. leather.] A fmall fifhing-boat, made of fplit 
fallow twigs, covered with leather, in which the filher- 
man fits, rows with one hand fwiftly, and manages his 
fifliing-tackle with the other; it is very common in Wales, 
and feems to be the remains of thofe boats which Caefar 
deferibes to have been ufed by the Britons in his time. 
A light fafhionable twc-wheeled carriage, formed like a 
phaeton, and driven with two horfes a-breaft. The pan- 
nels were firft interwoven with fplit cane, in the form of 
wicker-work, and covered on the top with leather; alfo 
called curricle. 
CORACOMA N'TES,yi in antiquity, jugglers who pre¬ 
tended to foretel events from their obfervations on crows. 
CO'RAH, a town and province of Hindooftan, in the 
country of Chide : 13S miles fouth-eaft of Agra, and fifty- 
three fouth-fon th-weft of Lucknow. 
CO'RAL, f. [ corrallium , Lat. from nop, a daughter, 
and the fea; fo derived by Minfhew, becaufe it is 
generated in the fea.] The (hell of a marine animal, or 
of a congeries of animals, of the polype kind. It is a 
hard, brittle, branched, fubftance, refembling a plant 
without leaves, full of knots or joints, fometimes ftraight, 
and fometimes varioufly bent, rnoftly found adhering to 
rocks and ftones in the Indian and Mediterranean feus, 
and in the Perfian gulph. It was formerly in high efteem 
as a medicine, and Diofcorides preferibed it as a fpecific 
for the gout, and for preventing ftagnation of the animal 
fluids in any part of the body. Modern chemiftry has 
afeertained its properties to be the fame as oyfter-fliells, 
lime, or other calcareous matter; and hence it isjuftly 
rejected from the prefent practice. No production of 
nature, perhaps, has been more miftaken than the fub¬ 
ftance and origin of coral; and it is.but very lately that 
its genuine characters have been afeertained. Dr. Wood¬ 
ward, from its fpecific gravity, confidered it as a fpecies 
of ftone. Guifonaeus infifted that it was a real mineral, 
compofed of much fait, and a quantity of earth. Caefal- 
pinvis, Ray, Tournefort, Hill, and all the ancient botanifts, 
clafled it among the marine plants, and maintained that 
it propagated by feeds, like other vegetables. Kircher 
fuppofed that there were entire forefts of it at the bottom 
of the fea; and the count de Mariigli, in 1706, pretended 
he had difeovered its flowers and fructification. M. de 
Peyffonnel, of Marfeilles, in confequence of a feries of ex¬ 
periments, feems to have been the firft who threw any 
true light upon the nature of coral. Thofe radiations 
which count de Marfigli miftook for flowers, he difeo¬ 
vered to be a congeries of minute infeCts inhabiting the 
coral; for, upon taking branches of it out of the water, 
thefe radiations, which fom’ewhat refembled the bloifoms 
