hoary spoonbill

[David Wright]

Hi, Michel. Thanks for the input. If the bird on the left in your image is a
quecholli, it looks a lot more like the xiuhquecholli (Dibble and Anderson
suggest the subspecies Momotus lessoni goldmani) than the tlauhquechol/
teoquechol, which is the bird that has been identified as the roseate
spoonbill (Ajaia ajaja), and by some as the flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber),
although it looks for now like the flamingo identification is due to the
fact that people were just calling spoonbills “flamingos” because of the
similarities between the two species. You can see native renderings of (and
read about) both the tlauhquechol/teoquechol and the xiuhquechol in the
Florentine Codex, book 11, chapter 2, paragraph 1. Torquemada specifically
relates the 20-day ritual period quecholli to the tlauhquechol/teoquechol.

After reading all of the very helpful comments provided by several listeros,
I decided to translate the ritual period quecholli as “La cuchareta
rosada/el proyectil” in my work in progress, adding the following footnote:

Las fuentes novohispanas están divididas en cuanto a la traducción de la
palabra quecholli. Para Torquemada (1975-1983: III, 403, 426, 427 [libro 10,
capítulos 26, 35]), el nombre de este mes se relaciona con el teoquechol o
tlauhquechol, un ave acuático de plumas valiosas que puede ser identificada
con un grado razonable de certeza con la cucharada rosada (Ajaia ajaja).
Esta ave es llamada “flamenca” por Torquemada, pero las descripciones de
este autor y de Sahagún (1979: III, 20v, 21r [libro 11, capítulo 2, párrafo
1]) dejan en claro que no se trata del ave que ahora llamamos “flamingo”
(Phoenicopterus ruber), sino de la cucharada rosada, especialmente porque
ambos autores hacen hincapié en el hecho de que esta ave tiene un pico
parecido al del pato. Otros autores novohispanos traducen quecholli como
algún tipo de proyectil, sea una flecha tirada con el arco, un dardo lanzado
con  el atlatl o lanzadardos, o una especia de lanza (Anders/Jansen
[editores], 1996a: 41v; Doesburg/Carrera [editores], 1996: 100v; Durán,
1967: i, 281 [libro de los ritos, capítulo 17]; Tovar, 1951: lám. 11).

Any comments on this are more than welcome.

Here are the references, in case anyone wants to looks this stuff up.

Anders, Ferdinand; Jansen, Maarten E. R. G. N. (editores)
1996a  Códice Magliabechi, facsímil del ms., Graz/México, Akademische
Druck-und Verlagsanstalt/Fondo de Cultura Económica.

Doesburg, Geert Bastiaan van; Carrera González, Florencio (editores)
1996  Códice Ixtlilxochitl, facsímil del ms., Graz/México, Akademische
Druck-und Verlagsanstalt/Fondo de Cultura Económica.

Durán, Diego
1967  Historia de las Indias de Nueva España e islas de tierra firme, 2
vols., Ángel María Garibay Kintana, editor, México, Editorial Porrúa.

Sahagún, Bernardino de
1974-1982		Florentine codex, general history of the things of
New Spain, 1a. ed./2a. ed./reimpresión, 13 partes, Arthur J. O. Anderson y
Charles E. Dibble, editores y traductores, Santa Fe/Salt Lake City, The
School of American Research/The University of Utah.
1979  Códice florentino, facsímil del ms., 3 vols., México, Secretaría de
Gobernación.

Torquemada, Juan de
1975-1983  Monarquía indiana, de los veinte y un libros rituales y monarquía
indiana, con el origen y guerras de los indios occidentales, de sus
poblazones, descubrimiento, conquista, conversión y otras cosas maravillosas
de la mesma tierra, 7 vols., Miguel León-Portilla, coordinador, México,
Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de
México.

Tovar, Juan de
1951  The Tovar calendar, an illustrated Mexican manuscript ca. 1585,
reproduced with a commentary and handlist of sources on the Mexican 365-day
year (Memoirs of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, vol. 11),
George Kubler y Charles Gibson, editores, New Haven, Connecticut Academy of
Arts and Sciences.

***********************************************************

De: Michel Oudijk [mailto:oudyk at hotmail.com] 
Enviado el: lunes, 07 de diciembre de 2009 11:18 p.m.
Para: David Wright; schwallr at potsdam.edu
CC: nahuatl at lists.famsi.org
Asunto: RE: [Nahuat-l] hoary spoonbill

Dear friends,
 
I don't know much about birds but according to the people from
Quauhquechollan the Quechollin looks like they painted it in their lienzo
(see the attached photo or Florine Asselbergs' book about the lienzo). Maybe
one of you bird watchers can identified it this way. Doesn't look like a
flamenco to me though.
 
Abrazo,
 
Michel

De: Michel Oudijk [mailto:oudyk at hotmail.com] 
Enviado el: lunes, 07 de diciembre de 2009 11:18 p.m.
Para: David Wright; schwallr at potsdam.edu
CC: nahuatl at lists.famsi.org
Asunto: RE: [Nahuat-l] hoary spoonbill

Dear friends,
 
I don't know much about birds but according to the people from
Quauhquechollan the Quechollin looks like they painted it in their lienzo
(see the attached photo or Florine Asselbergs' book about the lienzo). Maybe
one of you bird watchers can identified it this way. Doesn't look like a
flamenco to me though.
 
Abrazo,
 
Michel


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