animals listed in book 11 of the florentine codex, p. 1

It is the same as the cuitlamiztli. As for its being named [itzcuinquani], at night it goes forth to the settlements. It cries out. And when it has cried out, then and begins to howl when it gets near a place. And all the dogs that hear it howl in response and go running to where it is. And when the dogs gather around it, it kills the ones that it needs to eat and eats them. And the rest get away. Dogs are its food; it finds them very tasty. According to this account, it seems to be a wolf. [section on cuitlamiztli, which is thought to be extinct] It lives in the forests. It is the same as a mountain lion. As for its being named cuitlamiztli: when it reaches a deer, it attacks it. When it seizes it,1 it eats it, eats it gluttonously, eats it as it lies; indeed it consumes it all. For two days, for three days, it eats nothing [else]. It eats absolutely the whole of it; it lies down, lies digesting it. Hence it is called cuitlamiztli; because it is a glutton, and because it does not hide itself away. During the night it eats up the turkeys; it finishes them up if there are even twenty. When filled, it just kills them and the sheep.

The bobcat is of smoky yellow, dark yellow back, with blackish tips to its fur; of white belly; it is white-bellied, like flecks of cotton, like carded cotton. Its belly is spotted with black, marked like an ocelot, blotched like an ocelot. [Its fur is] soft, soft, very soft; dark, blended here and there, much blended, with brown. It is small and squat, small and round [of body], massive, heavily fleshed. It is large-headed, with droplet-shaped ears, round-faced, snubbed of muzzle, spiny of tongue. Very high-pitched is its voice when it howls. Very agile is it, a true flyer. It bounces, it flies. Its food is flesh. And this bobcat is absolutely uncanny in its service to [other] wild animals.1 And thus it performs its task. If it sees any living thing, perhaps a deer or a man, then it quickly hides itself behind any tree or tangle of shrubs. There it crouches. And if [the victim] comes to it, it quickly attacks. It passes its tongue over the eyes [of the victim]—flicks it over its eyes. And the deer, or the man, is at once blinded, so that he can no more help himself. And then it breaks [the victims’s] neck. And the brute then howls, screams, and sounds out loudly. Thus it informs the [other] wild animals that it has made a catch. Then the wild animals come to eat it. And when they have come, then they drink [the victim’s] blood. And when they have finished its blood, they suck at its flesh. But some only suck its blood; afterwards they eat its flesh; they tear it to pieces.

It is fleecy, quite like a skunk, but when it ages, as an old male, as an old female, it becomes chalky. Rather long and thinmuzzled, its face is [as if] painted; the hollows of its eyes are black. It is of small, pointed ears, of long, hairless tail. Its tail is all flesh; nowhere is there hair, though there is a fine down. And as to its habits: it brings forth its young underground, in burrows, somewhere under ledges of rocks. And when it bears its young, when it goes out somewhere, it carries its young with it. There is a pouch at its belly; there it places, there it inserts its young. It takes them with it when it goes out to eat; there they are suckled. It is quite harmless, not vicious; it does not bite one, it does not nip one when it is taken, when it is seized. And when it is caught, it cries, it squeals; true tears come forth, especially when it is taken with its young. Much does it squeal for its young. Much does it weep for them; true tears come forth. It places each in its pouch; it takes them out. And its food is maize, maguey scrapings, and honey. And its flesh is edible, savory, like rabbit, like hare. But its bones, especially its tail, are in no wise edible. If one eats of them, especially if one eats many of them, all the intestines which are within him come forth. Once a dog and a cat secretly ate the flesh of an opossum; they chewed, they gnawed all its bones. Really it was the dog. At dawn, it had scattered out its intestines; it went about dragging them behind it. But its tail is a medicine which expels, which extracts, wherever something has gotten in, especially in an opening in a bone, which cannot come out. [Salve of] opossum tail is spread on thickly; it is spread on many times. Even if it is very well lodged, this draws it out; it gradually removes it. And [women] who have difficulty in childbirth, who cannot deliver the child, drink [the infusion]. Thus the little child is born quickly. And whoever can no longer defecate, who has a stoppage of the bowels, drinks it to open the passages, the tubes, to clean them, to purify them, to sweep out obstructions. Likewise one who has a cough also drinks opossum-tail [infusion]; with it he gathers, he sends down the phlegm. Also one drinks chocolate with uey nacaztli, with tlilxochitl, with mecaxochitl. One who can no longer digest food eats [opossum tail] for constipation, when there are obstructions.

It is slender, rather squat, rather long-tailed, rather thin and long of snout. Its face is painted, blotched. It is rather ruddy; it is white-breasted. Its food is mice, nextecuillin worms, tlalomitl worms. It also eats turkeys; it sucks them from below. Its offal is unpleasant—very salty, very sickening. It preys especially on newly-hatched turkeys and bird eggs. It comes creeping up to spy on, indeed forces itself among, the sitting hens.

Also its name is water gopher. It is the same as the mouse. It is a water-dweller, a paddler, a swimmer. It is small and fleshy, corpulent; long-tailed.

Its bill is pointed, yellow; its legs yellow. It has a crest, wings, a tail. It is of medium size, the same as the slender-billed grackle. The tail feathers are streaked. On [the tail], the feathers which grow on it are called quetzalli. Those which are on its tail are green, herb-green, very green, fresh green, turquoise-colored. They are like wide reeds: the ones which glisten, which bend. They become green, they become turquoise. They bend, they constantly bend; they glisten. The tail of this one is black, dark. [These feathers] cover [and] underlie [the quetzalli feathers]. These are also green, glistening. [These feathers are] only on the interior side. They are [rather] long, wide, smoky, blackish, sooty. They cover, they protect [the quetzalli feathers]; they become smoky, dark, green, glistening. This bird is crested; of quetzal spines, of quetzal thread feathers is its crest, very resplendent, very glistening. They are called tzinitzcan. A crest is formed; a crest develops, emerges, grows. About its neck, its throat, and its breast, [the feathers] are reddish—well colored, even colored, well textured, chili-red, resplendent, wonderful, precious. The name of the feathers is tzinitzcan. They are chili-red. They become chili-red, reddish, resplendent, glistening, well textured. About its neck and back are those called tzinitzcan, tzinitzcan feathers of the resplendent trogon, which are green, resplendent, glistening. On its belly are [those] called olincayotl; they are yielding, not stiff; green, herb-green. They yield, they are soft; they become glistening green. On its wing, one kind which grows at the very point of the wing-bend is called tzicoliuhqui. They are of average size, black at the base, flesh-colored, somewhat curved. And those which follow, which come forth at its wing-bend, are called tecpatic {flint-knife-like}. They are a little wide, pointed at the end. Those which cover the bases of its flight feathers are called quetzalhuitztli and chilchotic, piaztontli, yacauitztic. They are green, very green, resplendent; they glisten, they become very green. The breeding place of these birds is [the province of] Tecolotlan; and in the trees they make their homes and raise their young.

The forest is its abode, the forest is its home. It breeds especially there in Totonaca country [and] in Cuextlan; it raises its young in the trees. It merely builds a bag-like nest for its young [and] suspends them. The bill is long, concave, yellow, very yellow, colored yellow. For this reason it is called xochitenacal: about its throat [and] neck [the feathers] are very yellow, yellow, well textured, flower-yellow. And its head and its body are dark, dark green. And its wings and its tail are tawny and black mingled with white. The bill widens; it becomes concave; it becomes yellow; there are marks as of hawk scratches; [colors] are mingled.

It has a yellow, curved bill, like that of the white-fronted parrot; the head is crested. Its breeding place is especially [the province of] Cuextlan. These are its chick feathers—herb-green, dark, dark green on its back, and about its neck, and its tail, and its wings. And those at the tip of its wing-bend are green [and] yellow; they cover its flight feathers. And on its breast, on its belly, its feathers are yellow, dark yellow. They are called xollotl. And its tail and its wings are ruddy. In crags, in tree-tops, on water plants it nests, lays eggs, sits, hatches its young. There it is captured [to be] tamed. When the young yellow-headed parrot is already developed, it turns yellow, it becomes very yellow. It develops fluffy feathers. When completely feathered, then it is called toztli.

red and black

smoky, dark yellow, tawny

The bill is long, like a nail, dart-shaped; the head is chili-red, [the body] ashen, the neck long. It is tall, high, towering. The legs are stringy, very long, black, like stilts. It is edible, savory, of good taste.

Also it is called çoquiaçolin. It is long-billed, long-legged. It is varicolored like a quail. It becomes varicolored like a quail; varicolored. Its home is in the water, among the reeds. It is varicolored like a quail.

It is also rare. Likewise, it comes when the various [water] birds come. Its head is quite small, black, with a pointed, chili-red bill. Its eyes are like fire. It is long-necked. Its body is small and straight, small and thick: its breast very white, its back black, its flight feathers white, its wing-bend tips black, its legs black: they are also somewhat toward its rump, like a duck’s legs. It lives there in the lagoon and is caught in nets. This western grebe does not fly very high; sometimes the water folk only chase it in boats; they spear it. And when they chase it, when they harass it exceedingly, when they are about to spear it, then it ruffles up, cries out, summons the wind. The lagoon foams much, it breaks into waves. So before the eyes of the water folk it vanishes, it suddenly enters the depths of the water. Occasionally they hit their mark; [the bird] is successfully speared. Also it brings forth no young [here]; it also migrates.

It likewise is rare. Also it comes when [the other water] birds come. It is of average size, like a dove. For this reason is it called “mirror-head”: on its head is something like a mirror, a round [patch] on the crown of its head. There we appear. On the front of its head is a thin row of feathers, somewhat ashen. Its bill is quite small, cylindrical. Its breast, its back are completely light blue; its wings, its tail are likewise light blue. All its feathers are a little white. Its legs are yellow. And when it swims, when it paddles with its feet in the water, it looks like an ember; it goes glowing, glistening. And the appearance of this purple gallinule was [a sign of] war. Whoever captured one looked at himself in the mirror. If he were to go, to go forth to battle, he saw that he was carried off, taken captive; they dragged him away. But if he were to have good fortune, if he [were to] attain his reward, he saw that he dragged [the foe] off.

Also [it is called] yacatexotli. It is a duck. It comes here in the vanguard, before [other water] birds have come. It is named atapalcatl because if it is to rain on the next day, in the evening it begins, and all night [continues], to beat the water [with its wings]. Thus the water folk know that it will rain much when dawn breaks. It is named yacatexotli because its bill is light blue, small, wide. And near its head [the bill] is white. Its head is tawny; its wings, breast, back, tail are all tawny; only its belly is white [and] blackish. Its feet are black, wide, and small. It rears its young here; [it has] ten, fifteen, twenty young. Sometimes not all leave; some remain. They are edible.

Also [it is called] nacaztzone. It is called yacapitzauac because its bill is small and pointed, something like a small nail, and it pierces one sharply. And it swims under water; it always feeds under water. And it is named nacaztzone because its feathers which are over its ears, inclined toward the back of its neck, are somewhat long, tawny. Those at the crown of its head are dark ashen, slightly white. Its eyes are like fire, chili-red. Its neck, its back are dark ashen; its breast somewhat white. Its tail is also dark ashen, quite small; its wings black; white [feathers] lie underneath. Its feet are like the claws of a turkey, [but] very flat. It does not rear its young here; it also migrates. Its food is its [own] feathers, only sometimes it eats fish. It is not fishy, its flesh is savory.