Of the Animals. 9

can province, and it has claimed this name because it remains immobile on its feet even while resisting the winds with great force. In size, it equals the Gnesian eagles. Its entire body, except for the neck and breast, is a blackish-purple. Underneath, near where they join the body, the wings are black, while the rest is ash-colored; above, they are a mixture of tawny and black, leaning somewhat toward purple. The legs are red, the claws hooked, and the tip of the beak is white, resembling that of a parrot, while the rest is stained a reddish color; the nostrils are wide, the eyes black with a tawny iris, and the eyelids are red. The forehead is bathed in a blood-red hue and adorned with folding wrinkles, which it sometimes unfolds like a peacock, covered with a few sparse, black hairs. The tail is like an eagle's, ash-colored below but black on the outside. It also feeds on carrion and human waste, as well as snakes, lizards, and mice, which it hunts daily. The Indians apply the feathers of this bird to ulcers, and they successfully use its boiled meat when such conditions persist, as well as in treating the French disease.

On Birds Related to the Parrot

A certain bird called the Noyra is brought to India from the Moluccan Islands; it looks very much like a parrot and even imitates its song, except that it is clothed in more reddish feathers, and its meat is sold at a high price. Furthermore, it possesses this unique trait: it diligently cleans the heads, ears, nostrils, and faces of its companions with its tongue, much like a dog, so that it brings no small delight to its owners with these antics. Moreover, in the varied and pleasing color of its feathers, it far surpasses other parrots.

In Chiapas, there are also certain birds known as river hawks that seem somewhat monstrous in their feet; one foot is like a goose's and the other like an eagle's. Indeed, while they swim with one, they seize their prey with the other.

On Woodpeckers

A certain bird has been called the "healing woodpecker" because it soothes and dispels headaches. It is larger than a blackbird, with a long, black beak (though shorter on the lower part), a reddish crown and neck, and entirely ash-colored underparts, while the wings and back are black, variegated with white transverse lines. It frequents the fields of the Totonacapan province and is believed to belong to the woodpecker family, as it bores into trees with its beak.

Its reddish head feathers, when applied, are said to relieve headaches—whether they inferred this from the "signature," as these feathers stand out on the top of the bird's head, or because they discovered it through experience.

There is another species of this bird there, which is called the "rain-bearing woodpecker," or *Quatotoni* in the local language; it is equal in size to a hoopoe and is variegated with black and brown colors. Its beak, with which it hollows out trees, is three fingers long, firm, and shining white, though shorter on the bottom. The head is small, covered and decorated with red feathers, and features a reddish crest three inches long, which is black at the top. A black band descends from either side of the neck to the breast. The feet and legs are leaden in color. It lives not far from the Southern Sea, nests in high trees, lives on cicadas and worms, and broods over its offspring during the rainy season, which is how it earned its name.