(SOUTHERN COURLAN.)
+Aramus scolopaceus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 504 (Paraná);
_Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 141; _iid. P. Z. S._ 1869, p. 160;
_Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1876, p. 102 (Buenos Ayres); _Durnford, Ibis_,
1877, p. 196 (Buenos Ayres); _Gibson, Ibis_, 1880, p. 160 (Buenos
Ayres); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 277 (Entrerios).
_Description._--Above brown; forehead, lores, and chin greyish
white; neck striped with white: beneath similar; bill brown; legs
greenish grey: whole length 24·0 inches, wing 13·0, tail 5·0.
_Female_ similar.
_Hab._ South America.
This curious bird has a blackish-brown plumage, glossed with bronze on
the upper parts; its total length is about two feet and a half, and the
wings, when spread, measure nearly four feet from tip to tip. It has
been called "an abnormal relative of the Rails at most," and in its
peculiar flight and many of its habits certainly differs very widely
from the Rails.
The beak of this bird is nearly 5 inches long, straight, and of an iron
hardness; the tip is slightly bent to one side, the lower mandible
somewhat more than the upper. The tongue extends to the extremity of the
beak; at the end it is of a horny toughness, and frayed or split into
filaments. This beak is a most effective instrument in opening shells;
for where mollusks abound the Courlan subsists exclusively on them, so
that the margins of the streams which this bird frequents are strewn
with innumerable shells lying open and emptied of their contents.
Every shell has an angular piece, half an inch long, broken from the
edge of one valve. Mussels and clams close their shells so tightly that
it would perhaps be impossible for a bird to insert his beak, however
knife-like in shape and hardness, between the valves in order to force
them open; therefore I believe the Courlan first feels the shell with
his foot whilst wading, then with quick dexterity strikes his beak into
it before it closes, and so conveys it to the shore. Otherwise it would
be most difficult for the bird to lift the closed shell from the water
and to carry it to land; but supposing it could do this, and afterwards
succeed in drilling a hole through it with its beak, the hole thus made
would have jagged edges and be irregular in shape. But the hole is, as I
have said, angular and with a clean edge, showing that the bird had just
thrust his beak half an inch or an inch between the valves, then forced
them open, breaking the piece out during the process, and probably
keeping the shell steady by pressing on it with its feet.
By day the Courlan is a dull bird, concealing itself in dense reed-beds
in streams and marshes. When driven up he rises laboriously, the legs
dangling down, and mounts vertically to a considerable height. He
flies high, the wings curved upward and violently flapped at irregular
intervals; descending, he drops suddenly to the earth, the wings
motionless, pointing up, and the body swaying from side to side, so
that the bird presents the appearance of a falling parachute. On smooth
ground he walks faster than a man, striking out his feet in a stately
manner and jerking the tail, and runs rapidly ten or twelve yards before
rising. At the approach of night he becomes active, uttering long clear
piercing cries many times repeated, and heard distinctly two miles away.
These cries are most melancholy, and, together with its mourning plumage
and recluse habits, have won for the Courlan several pretty vernacular
names. He is called the "Lamenting Bird" and the "Crazy Widow," but is
more familiarly known as the "Carau."
Near sunset the Caraus leave the reed-beds and begin to ascend the
streams to visit their favourite fishing-grounds. They are very active
at night, retiring again at the approach of morning, and sometimes pass
the day perched on trees, but more frequently concealed in dense
reed-beds.
As the breeding-season draws near they become exceedingly clamorous,
making the marshes resound day and night with their long wailing cries.
The nest is built among the rushes, and contains ten or twelve eggs as
large as Turkey's, slightly elliptical, sparsely marked with blotches
of pale brown and purple on a dull white ground, the whole egg having a
powdered or floury appearance. When the nest is approached the parent
birds utter sharp angry notes as they walk about at a distance. The
young and old birds live in one flock until the following spring.
The Carau is more nocturnal than the true Rails, and, having a far more
powerful flight, takes to wing more readily; in its gestures and motions
on the ground it resembles them, but differs strikingly from all Ralline
birds in the habit it possesses of flying when disturbed to some open
place, where it walks about conspicuously, watching the intruder.
Fam. XLV. CARIAMIDÆ or CARIAMAS.
The Cariamas are another purely Neotropical family of which but two
species are known. These peculiar birds, remarkable for their long legs
and harsh voices, have been regarded by some authors as allied to the
Cranes, and by others as akin to the Secretary-Vulture (_Serpentarius_),
to which they have certainly considerable superficial resemblance. Dr.
Burmeister, who has carefully investigated the osteology and anatomy of
_Cariama cristata_, has come to the conclusion that the true place of
this somewhat isolated form is near the Storks. But Huxley (P. Z. S.
1867, p. 457) has placed it along with the Cranes, though somewhat
doubtful whether it should not rather form an Order apart; and we prefer
to follow his decision.