ANATOMY OF BIRDS
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS
CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS
LIZARD-TAILED BIRD
AMERICAN TOOTHED-BIRDS
THE OSTRICHES
THE RHEAS
EMEUS AND CASSOWARIES
THE TINAMOUS
THE KIWIS
THE PENGUINS
LOONS AND GREBES
ALBATROSSES & PETRELS
STORK-LIKE BIRDS
GOOSE-LIKE BIRDS
FALCON-LIKE BIRDS
FOWL-LIKE BIRDS
CRANE-LIKE BIRDS
PLOVER-LIKE BIRDS
CUCKOO-LIKE BIRDS
THE ROLLER-LIKE BIRDS
SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS
Birds and Birding's Guide to:
Watching THE ROLLER-LIKE BIRDS
THE ROLLERS AND THEIR ALLIES
THE ROLLERS
Kirombos, or Cuckoo-Rollers
The first-mentioned subfamily embraces only a single genus (Leptosomus) and two closely allied species, one of which inhabits Madagascar and the other the adjacent island of Great Comoro. They have a moderately long, slightly curved and hooked bill, and narrow exposed nostrils which open in the middle of the upper mandible and are covered by a hornv plate, while the loral plumes are recurved and directed forward, hiding the base of the bill.
The legs are rather short and stout, with the outer toe cleft to the base and partly reversible, and the inner toe united to the middle one along the basal joint. As showing a possible affinity with the Frogmouths (Podar-gida), they have a powder-down patch on each side of the rump, a feature not present in any other member of the family. Unlike the true Rollers, the sexes are dissimilar in coloration, the male showing a metallic tinge on the dorsal plumage. They are mainly arboreal in habit, frequenting the outskirts of the forests and bush-covered plains, enjoying a strong, tolerably swift flight, and, like the other members of the family, they frequently execute various aerial evolutions on the wing. They feed on insects and small reptiles.
The principal species, usually known by the native name of Kirombo or Vorondreo, but also called the Cuckoo-Roller (L. discolor), is found in Madagascar and several near-by islands. It is about sixteen inches long, the male being dark ashy gray on the head and neck, excepting the crown, which is dull blackish plumbeous glossed with metallic green, while the remainder of the upper parts are a dark iridescent green tinged with copper-red, and the lower parts dark ashy gray becoming pure white on the under tail-coverts; the wings and tail are blackish, glossed with steel-green and copper-red, respectively.
The slightly larger female is very different, being rufous-brown above barred with black, excepting the crown, which is black, while the back is brown, glossed with green and spotted with reddish brown, and the under parts are rufous-buff, spotted with greenish black; the wings are blackish gray and the tail entirely brown, becoming blackish toward the end. The young birds resemble the females, but are duller in color.
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