Fam. III. Aramidae.–In this group, as in the Psophiidae (p. [257]), the osteology and pterylography are Crane-like, the digestive organs and style of plumage Rail-like; a link being thus formed between the two Families. The long, hard bill is slender and compressed, with slightly curved tip; the tibia is partly bare, the metatarsus scutellated. The wing has eleven primaries and some dozen secondaries. The long tongue is said to end in horny filaments, the trachea is sometimes convoluted in males, the nostrils are pervious.
Aramus pictus, the Clucking Hen or Limpkin of the Greater Antilles, South Florida, and Central America, is chocolate-brown with white flecks; the upper parts are glossed with bronzy-purple, the bill is greenish. A. scolopaceus, the Carau, Courlan, Lamenting Bird, or Crazy Widow, ranging from Guiana to Argentina, has only the head and neck streaked. Generally solitary or found in family-parties, these birds conceal themselves by day among reeds or damp forest-vegetation; they rise with difficulty after a preliminary run, and take low, brief flights, the legs hanging down and the wings flapping slowly, while the latter are elevated for a descent. They walk quickly and in stately fashion, limping and jerking the tail; at night they roost on trees. The resonant, melancholy wail is varied by a clucking note, or by an angry cry when breeding. The shallows of streams or marshes are diligently searched for molluscs, which the formation of the beak enables the bird easily to open or break, but small reptiles, insects, and worms are also eaten. The flat nest of herbage, placed among reeds, contains from ten to twelve white eggs, as large as those of a Turkey, clouded with pale brown and purple.[[175]]
Fig. 52.–Trumpeter. Psophia crepitans. × ⅙.
Fam. IV. Psophiidae.–The so-called Trumpeters form a single genus of six species inhabiting tropical South America, and somewhat resemble long-necked and long-legged Fowls, the beak being gallinaceous and the tibia partly bare. The long metatarsi are scutellated in front; the wings and tail are short, the ten primaries, just equalling the twelve secondaries. The nostrils are pervious. The downy nestlings are chestnut streaked with grey.
Psophia crepitans, the Agami, ranging from British Guiana to Amazonia, is a black bird with velvety plumage on the head and neck, and lax feathering below; a golden-green and violet sheen adorns the lower fore-neck, a rusty brown patch crosses the back and wing-coverts, the bare orbits are pinkish, the beak is greenish or greyish, and the legs are variously stated to be bright green or flesh-coloured. P. napensis of Ecuador has the sheen on the neck dull purple, P. leucoptera of Peru and Upper Amazonia lacks the brown above, and has the inner wing-coverts and inner secondaries white, these feathers being ochraceous in P. ochroptera of the right bank of the Rio Negro. P. viridis of Amazonia–from Pará up the right bank of the Rio Madeira to the Rio Mamoré–perhaps identical with P. obscura, has the back and inner secondaries glossed with green. The sexes are similar.
These birds love moist forests, and sometimes form flocks of three hundred individuals; they are so sociable and easily tamed that the natives use them to protect poultry. They perch, but seldom fly, and run swiftly with a peculiar gait, while they swim on an emergency. The deep-toned ventriloquistic, but not strictly trumpeting, cry is uttered with widely opened beak; the food consists of fruit, corn, and insects. The nest, said to be at the foot of a tree, contains creamy- or greyish-white eggs, like those of a Bantam.
Fam. V. Cariamidae.–These birds have given rise to much discussion, and have been placed by several authors in the Accipitres, near the Secretary-Bird, which they somewhat resemble in their erect carriage, general appearance, and habits. The beak is short, broad, and slightly hooked, the neck is rather long, the legs decidedly so; the tibia is partially bare, the metatarsus is entirely scutellated, the claws are sharp and curved. The wings are short, with fourteen elongated secondaries and ten primaries; the long, graduated tail has twelve rectrices. The nostrils are pervious. The internal anatomy and pterylosis are Gruine, an aftershaft is present, and the downy young are either grey and brown (Cariama) or rufous and black (Chunga). Cariama cristata, the Seriemá, or Crested Screamer (p. [110]), extending from Pernambuco to Paraguay and Matto Grosso, is ochreous-grey above with zigzag umber markings, and whitish below with brown stripes. Vertical feathers on the lores form a conspicuous crest, while those of the neck and throat are long and loose; interrupted white bands cross the remiges, and the bases and tips of the lateral rectrices. The iris is yellow, the beak and feet are red, the naked orbits greenish. The female is yellower, and exhibits less crest. Chunga burmeisteri, the Chuñia of Tucuman and Catamarca in Argentina, is smaller and darker, with shorter legs and little crest; it has a broad white superciliary streak, and two wide black bars on the tail-feathers, except the median pair. The bill and feet are black, the iris is grey.
Fig. 53.–Seriemá. Cariama cristata. × ⅐.