. A history of British birds. Birds. COMMON ROLLER. 331 when fully adult; but females of the second year are duller in colour. Males, and especially females, of the year have the whole of the plumage more or less suflFused with hrown, which is still more the case in young in first plumage, almost entirely obscuring the chestnut and brown. The Roller often shows a tendency to an elongation of the outside feather on each side of the tail, a feature which seems to be permanently developed to a remarkable extent in a very nearly allied species, C. ahys- sinica, which does not otherwise materially
. A history of British birds. Birds. COMMON ROLLER. 331 when fully adult; but females of the second year are duller in colour. Males, and especially females, of the year have the whole of the plumage more or less suflFused with hrown, which is still more the case in young in first plumage, almost entirely obscuring the chestnut and brown. The Roller often shows a tendency to an elongation of the outside feather on each side of the tail, a feature which seems to be permanently developed to a remarkable extent in a very nearly allied species, C. ahys- sinica, which does not otherwise materially differ. An example of a male of this species was presented to the Paisley Museum by Mr. Small (the father of the well-known bird-stuffer in Edinburgh), who stated that it was shot near Glasgow about the year 1857, and brought to him in the flesh. He also stated that the female was obtained, a short time afterwards, about forty miles from the locality where the male was shot. It is a resident throughout Africa south of the Desert and in Southern Arabia. It has never been known to occur in any part of continental Europe; and it is difficult to avoid coming to the conclusion that the bird in the Paisley Museum had escaped from Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Seebohm, Henry, 1832-1895. London, Pub. for the author by R. H. Porter [etc. ]
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1883
