By day the Courlan is a dull bird, concealing itself in dense reed-beds in streams and marshes.

One is the courlan, called "crazy widow" from its mourning plumage and long melancholy screams, which on still evenings may be heard a league away.

These cries are most melancholy, and, together with its mourning plumage and recluse habits, have won for the Courlan several pretty vernacular names.