FAMILY ARAMIDAE 335 



ARAMXJS GUARAUNA (Linnaeus): Limpkin; Carrao 

 Figure 55 



Form ibislike, but with shorter, heavier, nearly straight bill ; 

 blackish brown, with white streaks on the neck, and in some races 

 on the body. 



Description. — Length 580 to 630 mm. Adult (sexes alike), fore- 

 head and lores grayish brown ; crown blackish brown, paler on the 

 forehead ; throat white ; neck black to dark gray, streaked with white ; 

 body olive-brown, more or less streaked with white, the amount 

 varying in the different subspecies (see beyond) . 



Downy young, chin dull white ; throat and upper f oreneck, an in- 

 distinct superciliary, malar region, and upper abdomen dull white, 

 with the downy plumes tipped lightly with buffy brown ; elsewhere 

 dull brown, darker above and paler below. 



Iris brown; bill grayish brown, almost black at the tip, with the 

 base reddish brown on the mandible, and dull buff on the maxilla; 

 tarsus and toes dull olive-black ; claws darker, nearly black. 



The limpkin is so rare in its occurrence in Panama that its presence 

 there has been overlooked until recent years. On the Isthmus these 

 birds are found mainly along the lower courses of larger rivers 

 where the forested banks are low so that they may be flooded in 

 periods of high water. Their presence may be detected by the empty 

 shells of large apple snails left on muddy shores, as these form their 

 main food supply. In early morning limpkins may be found in the 

 open, but at any alarm they retreat to the shelter of forest and there 

 remain concealed. In other parts of their extensive tropical and sub- 

 tropical range they come out in open marshes, but there is little 

 suitable habitat of that type in Panama, except in the banana farms 

 of Bocas del Toro. Here limpkins are found occasionally on cleared 

 lands that have been flooded. 



To secure their food limpkins wade in shallow water probing with 

 the bill. When an apple snail is found it is carried to the bank, and 

 set in the mud with the opening upward. The bird, with partly 

 opened bill tip, with quick dexterity then removes the horny oper- 

 culum that protects the snail, when the mollusk is pulled out and 

 swallowed. 



Limpkins walk rather slowly, with constantly twitching tail, and 

 a curious undulating tread that gives the impression of lameness or 

 limping, from which the common name of limpkin is derived. Their 

 flapping flight is performed with head and neck extended, and feet 

 and legs projecting behind, in the manner of a crane. Where not 



