Great Tinamou

Great Tinamou (Tinamus major), IXMATLA-TŌTŌ-TL

“Its home is in the forest. It lives there in Anahuac . It is called ixmatlatototl because [its song] is almost like our own speech. When it sings, it says campa uee, as if it imitated those who live there …. Its bill is silvery. Its head, its breast, its back, its tail are completely ashen; its feet are ashen" (FC, p. 26).

Audio recording by Adam Dudley. From the Macauley Library ML432084251. Photo by Lukas Sekelsky.

Cf. pages 42–43 in The Aztec Fascination with Birds monograph.

References Cited
Quoted material from the Florentine Codex (FC): Reprinted from Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain, Book 11, Earthly Things¸ by Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, translated by Arthur J.O. Anderson, and Charles E. Dibble with permission from School for American Research, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Copyright 1981.