Volume 24, Plate XXV / Ornithology (Birds)

European Roller

Coracias garrula

The European Roller is an accidental straggler to Britain, taken from southern England to Shetland, frequent in Germany and tending northward, sylvan in habit, nesting in tree holes, and feeding chiefly on insects mostly taken on the wing. Its head, neck, and underparts are verditer blue, the back pale chestnut brown, the wing coverts brilliant purple and ultramarine, the quills blackish with blue or purple shades, and the outer tail feathers slightly lengthened.