230 COURLANS 



Nest, an islet, of roots, rushes, weed stalks, etc., in marshy places. Eggs, 

 2, olive-gray, spotted and blotched with distinct and obscure cinnamon- 

 brown markings, 3*90 x 2'40. Date, Lantana, Fla., Mch. 2; Dubuque, Iowa, 

 May 11, 1865. 



Thanks to the preserving influences of peninsulation, this splendid 

 bird is still common in south-central Florida, where its loud, resonant 

 trumpeting is one of the characteristic bird-notes. It feeds about the 

 borders of sloughs in the prairies and pines and particularly over 

 burned areas, and is one of the most wary of birds. 



"During courtship and the early breeding season their actions and 

 antics at times are ludicrous in the extreme, bowing and leaping high in 

 the air, hopping, skipping, and circling about with drooping wings and 

 croaking whoop, an almost indescribable dance and din, in which the 

 females (an exception to the rule) join, all working themselves up into 

 a fever of excitement only equaled by an Indian war dance, and, like 

 the same, it stops only when the last one is exhausted" (Goss). 



22. FAMILY ARAMID^E. COURLANS. (Fig. 41.) 



Courlans might be called large Rails with some of 'the habits of 

 Herons. Two species are known, Aramus scolopaceus of South America, 

 and A. vociferus of Central America, Mexico, the West Indies, and 

 Florida. They frequent the borders of wooded streams and swamps, 

 and at times the uplands. Their flight is short, and when on the wing 

 their legs dangle below them. Like the Herons, they perch in trees. 

 Their prolonged, melancholy call has won for them the name "Crying- 

 bird." Their usual note is a loud, rather high wah-ree-ow; the last 

 syllable is drawn out into a wail, and the effect is most grewsome. 

 Courlans feed to a large extent on land shells (Ampullaria) , and, as 

 Barrows has shown, the tip of the Courlan's bill is sometimes turned 

 slightly to one side, an evident result of forcing it into the spiral open- 

 ing of the shell to extract the animal. 



207. Aramus vociferus (Lath.). LIMPKIN. (Fig. 41.) Ads. Glossy 

 olive-brown, the feathers of the head and neck narrowly, those of the body 

 broadly, striped with white; wings and tail more bronzy. Im. Similar, 

 but paler and duller. L., 28'00; W., 13'00; Tar., 4'50; B., 4'25. 



Range. Fla. Greater Antilles, and both coasts of Cen. Am.; casual n. 

 to S. C.; accidental in Tex. 



Nest, of leaves, twigs, etc., in a bush or small tree. Eggs, 4-7, pale buffy 

 white, blotched, stained and speckled with light cinnamon-brown, 2'30 x 1'70. 

 Date, Ocklawhaha River, Fla., Mch. 6. 



This is a locally common species in Florida. Its general habits 

 are described in the remarks on the family Aramidce. 



23. FAMILY RALLID^J. RAILS, GALLINULES, AND COOTS. (Fig. 39.) 



The one hundred and eighty odd species contained in this family are 

 distributed throughout the greater part of the world, fifteen species 

 inhabiting North America. Rails and Gallinules are not strictly gre- 



