426 COURLAN. 



and also on this stream and the Oclawaha River further north. I found them common 

 about Lake Harney, and Tiger brought me two from the Everglades and assured me that 

 they were plenty in certain sections of those wide-spread marshes. I had frequently heard 

 the loud notes of this species, as I traversed the rivers, but it was not until the first week 

 in February, 1872, that I saw a specimen. I was being skulled up the river by an assis- 

 tant, in a gunning float, and had shot a Florida Gallinule, when, at the report of my gun, 

 the loud cries of a Courlan rang out from a small creek on the opposite side. We quickly 

 pushed across and made our way into an opening under some overhanging branches, when 

 the louder notes gave place to a low, chattering sound which appeared to come from a dis- 

 tance. After examining the neighboring shores for a time, unsuccessfully, I chanced to 

 glance at the end of a log upon which I was standing, when I discovered the Courlan sit- 

 ting there, jerking his head up and down, much after the manner of a Rail. I watched 

 him for some time, when upon making a motion with my gun, he rose lightly, when I shot 

 him. This habit of standing and stupidly gazing at the intruder, I afterward found to be 

 characteristic of the species. When startled, they fly with dangling legs and out-stretched 

 neck, dropping, after a short flight, into the nearest retreat. They appear to prefer the 

 more wooded sections of swamps, but I have, on a few occasions, started them from the 

 grassy borders of the streams. These birds have now been nearly driven from the borders 

 of the rivers which are navigated, retreating to the smaller creeks and bayous which are so 

 choked with aquatic plants that it is almost impossible to force a boat through them. The 

 Courlans breed in February, placing the nests on bushes which overhang the water, and 

 when their homes are approached, the birds quietly leave them. The loud cries of this spe- 

 cies are evidently produced by the singularly modified trachea which I have described un- 

 der generic characters. Audubon states that two that he dissected, had this organ straight 

 and simple, measuring only ten inches in length, with one hundred and eighty-six rings; 

 whereas a male from which I have taken my description, has the trachea double this length, 

 with two hundred and fifty rings. It is probable that Audubon's birds were young, while 

 my was an adult. 



FAMILY Hi. RALLID.E. THE RAILS, ETC. 



Sill, variable in form and length. Legs, rather short, but the toes are long, and al- 

 though occasionally margined or lobated, th'eij are never webbed. Marginal indentations, two 

 and deep. 



Members of this family have the oesophagus straight, without dilatation. Proventric- 

 ulus moderately large, with simple glands variably arranged. The intestines are not very 

 short, and the coeca are well developed, being usually quite long. The larynx is variable. 



GENUS I. RALLUS. THE LONG-BILLED RAILS. 



GEN. CH. Bill, much longer than head, grooved for its terminal two thirds, i/ender. and slightly curved, out has no 

 frontal plate at its base. Toes, not margined nor lobated. Keel, twice as high as width of sternum. Marginal indenta- 

 tions, narrow but deep. 



Members of tliis genus have the glands of the proventrieulus arranged in a zonnlar band which has two rounded projec- 

 tion)* in front. The atemo-traohealia is present, and there is a small bronchialis. Tympanif'orm membrane, also present. 

 Sexes, similar. There are three species within our limits. 



