269. 
671. 
668 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — ALECTORIDES — GRUIFORMES. 
the digestive system is as in the Rails; the casca are two, situate close together. Carotids two; 
syringeal muscles one pair; femoro-caudal absent. 
A/RAMUS. (Etym. ignot.) CourRLans. Bill twice as long as the head, slender but strong, 
compressed, grooved for about half its length, contracted opposite the nostrils, the terminal 
portion enlarged and decurved. Nostrils long, linear, pervious. Head completely feathered 
to the bill; tibiz half bare; tarsus scutellate anteriorly, as long as the bill, longer than middle 
Fic. 463.— Parra jacana, } nat. size. (From Brehm.) 
toe; toes cleft, the hinder short, elevated, the outer longer than inner; wings short, rounded, 
with falcate lst primary, the inner quills folding over the primaries when closed; tail short, 
of 12 broad feathers. 
A. pic/tus. (Lat. pictus, painted, spotted.) ScoLoPAcEous CouRLAN. CRYING-BIRD. 
Carav. Limpxin. Chocolate-brown with a slight olivaceous or other gloss, paler on the 
face, chin, and throat, most of the plumage sharply streaked with white. Length 24.00-28.00; 
extent 40.00-44.00; wing 12.00-14.00; tail 6.00-7.00; bill and tarsus, each, about 5.00. 
Florida, and West Indies. 
