The Jewel of the Sky  

The Jewel of the Sky - In the story, there is frequent mention of a really colorful, beautiful bird, known as the Jewel of the Sky. The bird is real and really does live in the land where Babylon was (as well as living in southern Iran, Pakistan, and India). But the bird doesn’t live in northern Iran, in the Zargos mountains of Mede, which is why Jameleh had never seen one before coming to Babylon. In modern studies of birds, this bird is commonly known as an Indian Roller, and scientifically known as "Coracias benghalensis".

Here you can see some pictures of this bird.  

Indian Rollers are not uncommon in the wild. In every country where they normally live, they are quite plentiful. But they are very rare in the United States. A few zoos have them and breed them, but it is extremely rare for a private person to own one. I waited over six years to buy the one I have now, the bird in these pictures. He’s about 2 years old, and I’m looking now for a mate for him. They can live 15 to 20 years.

Rollers aren’t good pet birds because their diet is heavily insects, and most people who keep pet birds want seed-eating birds, not bug-eating birds. Rollers are also famous for being very territorial about their nesting areas, and are known to attack people who get close to their nests. They need a big flight aviary, and can’t be kept in small indoor birdcages. So you can see why they aren’t popular as pet birds.

In the story, the Queen takes her Jewel of the Sky and brings him into the Gardens and lets him fly free. He flies up to a branch in one of the Garden trees and stays there for years. Rollers will do this. They like to pick one area or territory to call theirs, and one favorite perch to sit on, looking down at the ground below for any sign of something small to eat (a bug, frog, baby mouse, etc). So if food is easy to find, the bird may stay in that area for years, and perch in a tree day after day, watching over his territory.

The family of birds called Rollers got that name because they are quite famous for daring rolling flights when trying to attract and impress mates. These courtship rituals inspired them to be called Rollers.

The most common Roller in aviculture is probably the Lilac-Breasted Roller, another really beautiful bird. They are kept more often by private aviculturists and hand tamed birds are quite common as pets. Lilac-Breasted Rollers (or LBR’s as they are often called) are from Africa.

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