400 



ALECTORIDES. 



Aramus pictus. 



FLORIDA COURLAN; LIMPKIN. 



Tantahis pieties {Ephottskyka Indian), the Crying Bird, beautifully speckled, B arte am, Travels, 



1792, 293. 

 Aramus pictus, Coues, Pr. Ac. Nat. Sci. Philad. 1875, 354 (cxBartk. 1. c.) ; Check List, 2d ed. 1882, 



no. 671. — KiDGW. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 581. 

 Rallus gigantetts, Bonap. Jour. Ac. Nat. Sci. Philad. V. 1825, 31 (Florida). 

 Aramus gigantcus, Baikd, B. N. Am. 1858, 657 ; Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, no. 481. 

 Aramus scolopacetis, var. giganteiis, Coues, Key, 1872, 271 ; Check List, 1873, no. 464. 

 Aramus scolopaceus, Boxap. Am. Orn. IIL 182S, 111, pi. xxvi. (nee Vieill.). — Nutt. Man. IL 



1834, 68. — AuD. Orn. Biog. IV. 1838, 543 (not pi. 377, which is true A. scolopaceus) ; Synop. 



1839, 219 ; B. Am. V. 1842, 181 (not pi. 312, which is A. scolopaceus). 

 Notheroditcs holosticius. Cab. J. f. 0. 1856, 426 (Cuba). 

 Aramus holostictus, ScL. & Salv. Ibis, I. 1859, 227 (Belize and Omoa, Honduras). 



Hab. Greater Antilles, Florida, and Atlantic coast of Central America, to Honduras and 

 Costa Rica (Pacific coast). 



Sp. Char. Adult: General color olivaceous umber-brown, each feather marked centrally with 

 a stripe of white, these markings linear on the head and neck, but much broader and more or less 

 cuneate and ovate on the lower parts, upper i)art of the back, scapulars, and wing-coverts ; sides, 

 flanks, and crissum uniform chocolate-brown, without streaks ; primaries and tail uniform rich 

 purplish chocolate, with purplish reflections ; upper parts generally more or less glossed with 



purplish bronze. Lores, malar region, chin, and throat dull white, faintly streaked with brown. 

 "Bill greenish yellow, dusky toward the end of both mandibles, but especially the upj^er ; iris 

 hazel ; feet lead-gray ; claws dusky " ^ (Audubon). Young : Similar to the adult, but the brown 

 duller, the white markings much narrower, and less sharply defined. Downy young : " Covered 

 with coarse tufty feathers of a black color " (Audubon). 



Total lengtli, aljout 25.00-27.00 inches; extent, 40.00-42.00; wing, 11.00-1.3.00; cubnen, 

 3.50-4.75 ; tarsus, 3.50-5.20 ; middle toe, 3.30-3.50. 



Among more than fifty specimens of this bird examined, we find great variations of size and 

 proportions; and if the labels are to be credited, this variation seems quite independent of sex. 

 Young birds resemble adults, but are duller colored, with tlie white markings much narrower and 

 less distinct. Several examples from Porto Rico have shorter and deeper bills, and are smaller 

 generally, than any we have seen from Florida. In a larger series, however, these differences may 

 prove not constant. An example from La Palma, Costa Rica (Pacific side), collected by Mr. 

 C. C. Nutting, is not essentially different from some Floridan specimens, although rather more 

 richly colored than most of them. 



Mn the dried skin, the bill is mainly dusky, the inandibh- liglit brownish on the basal half, the 

 terminal half horn-color, dusky, or even glaucous ; the legs and feet black. 



