Russet-naped Wood-Rail

Russet-naped Wood-Rail (Aramides castaneiventris), PŌPOCALES

“As for its being called popocales¸ it speaks so. Always in the twilight and at dawn, it says popocales…. it lives there in [the provinces of] Toztlan [and] Catemahco …. It is the size of a duck, only a little taller …. Its bill is pointed,…chili-red. Its eyes are chili-red. Its head is dark yellow. Its neck, its back, its breast, its tail are ashen….The legs are chili-red" (FC, p. 25–26).

Audio recording by Jessy Lopez Herra. From the Macaulay Library ML435824171. Photo by Alex Lamoreaux.

Cf. Figure 26 and pages 41–42 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.