400 
ALECTORIDES. 
Aramus pictus. 
FLORIDA COURLAN; LIMPKIN. 
Tantalus pictus (Ephouskyka Indian), the Crying Bird, beautifully speckled, Bartram, Travels, 
1792, 293. 
Aramus pictus, Coues, Pr. Ac. Nat. Sci. Philad. 1875, 354 (ex Barth. 1. c.) ; Check List, 2d ed. 1882, 
no. 671. — Kidgw. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 581. 
Radius giganteus, Bonap. Jour. Ac. Nat. Sci. Philad. V. 1825, 31 (Florida). 
Aramus giganteus, Baird, B. N. Am. 1858, 657 ; Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, no. 481. 
Aramus scolopaceus, var. giganteus, Coues, Key, 1872, 271 ; Check List, 1873, no. 464. 
Aramus scolopaceus, Bonap. Am. Orn. III. 182S, 111, pi. xxvi. (nec Vieill. ). — Nutt. Man. II. 
1834, 68. — Aud. Ora. Biog. IV. 1838, 543 (not pi. 377, which is true A. scolopaceus) ; Synop. 
1839, 219 ; B. Am. V. 1842, 181 (not pi. 312, which is A. scolopaceus). 
Notherodias holostictus, Cab. J. f. 0. 1856, 426 (Cuba). 
Aramus holostictus, Scl. & Salv. Ibis, I. 1859, 227 (Belize and Omoa, Honduras). 
Hab. Greater Antilles, Florida, and Atlantic coast of Central America, to Honduras and 
Costa Rica (Pacific coast) . 
Sp. Char. Adult : General color olivaceous umber-brown, each feather marked centrally with 
a stripe of white, these markings linear on the head and neck, but much broader and more or less 
cuneate and ovate on the lower parts, upper part of the back, scapulars, and wing-coverts ; sides, 
flanks, and crissum uniform chocolate-brown, without streaks ; primaries and tail uniform rich 
purplish chocolate, with purplish reflections ; upper parts generally more or less glossed with 
purplish bronze. Lores, malar region, chin, and throat dull white, faintly streaked with brown. 
“Bill greenish yellow, dusky toward the end of both mandibles, but especially the upper ; iris 
hazel ; feet lead-gray ; claws dusky ’’ 1 (Audubon). Young : Similar to the adult, but the brown 
duller, the white markings much narrower, and less sharply defined. Downy young : “ Covered 
with coarse tufty feathers of a black color” (Audubon). 
Total length, about 25.00-27.00 inches ; extent, 40.00-42.00 ; wing, 11.00-13.00 ; culmen, 
3.50-4.75 ; tarsus, 3.50-5.20 ; middle toe, 3.30-3.50. 
Among more than fifty specimens of this bird examined, we find great variations of size and 
proportions; and if the labels are to be credited, this variation seems quite independent of sex. 
Young birds resemble adults, but are duller colored, with the white markings much narrower and 
less distinct. Several examples from Porto Rico have shorter and deeper bills, and are smaller 
generally, than any we have seen from Florida. In a larger series, however, these differences may 
prove not constant. An example from La Palma, Costa Rica (Pacific side), collected by Mr. 
C. C. Nutting, is not essentially different from some Floridan specimens, although rather more 
richly colored than most of them. 
1 In the dried skin, the bill is mainly dusky, the mandible light brownish on the basal half, the 
terminal half horn-color, dusky, or even glaucous ; the legs and feet black. 
