Coracias
Coracias is a genus of the rollers, an Old World family of near passerine birds related to the kingfishers and bee-eaters. They share the colourful appearance of those groups, blues and browns predominating. The two outer front toes are connected, but not the inner one. Taxonomy. The genus "Coracias" was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his "Systema Naturae". The genus name is from Ancient Greek "korakías" (), derived from "korax" (, ‘raven, crow’). Aristotle described the "coracias" as a bird as big as a crow with a red beak, which some  believe to be the chough. The type species was designated as the European roller ("Coracias garrulus") by George Robert Gray in 1855. The phylogenetic relationships among the species were determined in a molecular study published in 2018. Species. Nine species are recognized: Former species. Formerly, some authorities also considered the following species (or subspecies) as species within the genus "Coracias": Behaviour and ecology. "Coracias" rollers are watch-and wait hunters. They sit in a tree or on a post before descending on their prey and carrying it back in the beak to a perch before dismembering it. A wide range  of terrestrial invertebrates, and small vertebrates such as frogs, lizards rodents and young birds, are taken. Their prey includes items avoided by many other birds, such as hairy caterpillars, insects with warning colouration and snakes. They often perch prominently whilst hunting, like giant shrikes.