Rollers resemble crows in size and build, and share the colourful appearance of kingfishers and bee-eaters, blues and pinkish or cinnamon browns predominating.

They are mainly insect eaters, with Eurystomus species taking their prey on the wing, and those of the genus Coracias diving from a perch to catch food items from on the ground, like giant shrikes.

The family gets its scientific name for Latin coracium, "like a raven", and the English name "roller" from the aerial acrobatics some of these birds perform during courtship or territorial flights.

[5][6][7] The number of species in each family is taken from the list maintained by Frank Gill, Pamela C. Rasmussen and David Donsker on behalf of the International Ornithological Committee (IOC).

[14] They are monogamous and nest in an unlined hole in a tree or in masonry, and lay 2–4 eggs in the tropics, 3–6 at higher latitudes.

[4][12] Egg laying is staggered at one-day intervals so that if food is short only the older larger nestlings get fed.

They take a wide range of terrestrial invertebrates, and small vertebrates such as frogs, lizards, rodents and young birds.

The azure roller and dollarbird will hunt huge swarms of termites and flying ants which appear after thunderstorms.