. The royal natural history. ng-coverts blue, thelesser 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 purplishblue, with a band of silvery cobalt; the total length being 12 inches. Writing 8o PICARIAN BIRDS. of tlie habits of this well-known bird, Xauuiann observes that it is always restlessand uneasy, moving from tree to tree, where it always settles on the summit, oron a dead branch. When undisturbed it is fond of sitt
. The royal natural history. ng-coverts blue, thelesser 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 purplishblue, with a band of silvery cobalt; the total length being 12 inches. Writing 8o PICARIAN BIRDS. of tlie habits of this well-known bird, Xauuiann observes that it is always restlessand uneasy, moving from tree to tree, where it always settles on the summit, oron a dead branch. When undisturbed it is fond of sitting in the sunshine, butduring rainy weather is dull and moping. It never hops about among the branches,but flies from branch to branch, now and then descending to the ground, where ithops heavily, and with an aMkward demeanour. Its flight is quick, very easy,and much resembles that of a pigeon ; in fljing straight it flaps the wings quickly ;turns and overbalances itself often, and srlides or shoots through the air for some. cuMMuN HOLLER (g uat. size). distance before dropping on to a dead branch. The ordinary voice may be bestcompared to that of the magpie. Hollers continually^ give a deep harsh racher-racJcer-racker-racker, which is very quickly uttered when they are squabbling;and with this they mingle a harsh rrdh. When sitting peaceably, the note is ahigh rack and rack-rack and also a plaintive high krdh, not unlike that which a3^oung jackdaw sometimes utters; this last is their call-note. These notes veryoften vary, and the bird is generally heard before he is seen. In fine weatherthe male rises in the air near where the female is incubating, uttering a singlerack, rack-rack, etc., until he attains a considerable height, from which he suddenlyfalls, always turning a somersault, and throwing himself here and there in the ROLLERS. 8i air, uttering quickly the following Tdh-rdrdh-rrdh-rrd, etc. etc., which he alwayschanges to the rack as soon as ever he begins to turn his
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, booksubjectnaturalhistory, booksubjectzoology
