SCOLOPACEOUS COURLAN. 499 
experienced sportsmen, they declared themselves unacquainted 
with it, except a few who called it Indian-hen, as they pro- 
bably would any other rare bird of its size. It runs through 
the grass exactly in the manner of the rails, compressing its 
narrow body to pass through a small hole, and very difficult 
to catch when wounded. 
The scolopaceous courlan is two feet and three-fourths of 
an inch long, and three feet eight inches in extent. The bill, 
which has but a small gape, and by no means extending like 
that of the herons to beneath the eyes, measures four and 
three-quarter inches in length: of course it is longer than the 
head, and may be called much lengthened ; it is slender, quite 
straight, much compressed, being more than thrice higher 
than broad, and of a corneous consistence: the upper man- 
dible is of equal height almost throughout, slender ; from the 
base to the middle it is compressed, and channelled each 
side with a deep furrow covered by a kind of cere-like mem- 
brane; from where the furrow ends it swells slightly on each 
side, being there quite smooth, and even appearing polished : 
there is no vestige of a notch, as in the herons, and the margins 
are perfectly entire: these margins, from the middle to the 
angle of the mouth, are revolute inside, and obtuse ; towards 
the tip they are nearly vertical, and acute, forming throughout 
inside a straight medial channel; the upper ridge is somewhat 
depressed at base, then slightly inclined to the tip, being 
obtuse, and nowhere sharp: the lower mandible at base and 
beyond the middle is of nearly equal height, straightish in the 
middle; on the sides at base it is covered by a very thin 
membrane, and slightly furrowed lengthwise ; from the middle 
to the point, it is as smooth and polished as the upper one, 
excessively compressed, with the ridge prominent, rather acute 
at tip, the margins are perpendicular, approximated, very 
entire; the bifurcation of the sides is very long, extending 
beyond the middle of the mandible; it is narrow, and the 
mental angle formed by it naked, acute, entering the corneous 
substance of the bill. ‘The nostrils are placed rather distant 
