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^e. 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- 
